Illinois lawmakers are quietly working on changes to the State’s public education curriculum to require all grade level students to learn LGBT history. Failure to complete the required classwork on LGBT history comes with grave consequences to the student and parent(s).    

The proposal was made in Senate Bill 3249 by Senator Heather Steans and has passed the final vote in the State Senate. Senate Bill 3249, as known as House Bill 5596, is currently being debated by members of the House of Representatives.

If Senate Bill 3249 is signed into law, students are not eligible to graduate the 8th grade unless they complete the required lesson plan on “a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.”

Curriculums on LGBT history range from Kindergarten to the completion of 12th grade. Children in the Illinois public school system, as young as 4 years old, will be required to learn by being subjected to a drag queen story time or by reading “Heather Has Two Mommies”. This is designated in the Ready, Set, Respect: GLSEN's Elementary School Toolkit

In the current wording of Senate Bill 3249, parents in Illinois are forced to comply with changes to the curriculum, or their child, “the student,” won’t graduate from Middle/Junior High School. Students could be declared truant if parents decide to remove them from the lesson plan.

In Illinois, parents can be charged with a Class C misdemeanor because chronic truancy is deemed as a type of child neglect. If a person is found guilty, he or she could face up to 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine.

This isn’t only an Illinois horror story. Parents’ rights are being attacked all throughout the United States. State legislatures believe that schools know how to parent better than parents.

Many states have provisions in sex education curriculums which give parents the right to opt their child out of related lesson plans. But, Planned Parenthood and LGBT advocates are working together to get creative by asking state legislatures to insert their agenda into other areas of study, such as history or science.

At this current moment, parents’ rights are not respected and parents do not have an opt-out outside of sex education.  

We are working to reach members of the Illinois House of Representatives to demand an opt-out for parents. But, we need your help. They need to know this matters to you!

Sign our petition opposing Senate Bill 3249 and demand an opt-out for parents.