A Texas teacher claimed that 20 of her 32 fourth grade students came out to her as LGBTQ, according to internal messages from the district reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Austin Independent School District’s Blackshear Elementary School hosted a Pride parade for elementary schoolers, which the school’s principal dubbed a “Wellness Walk,” according to internal messages originally obtained by the Twitter account, LibsofTikTok. One teacher launched into a tirade against having a “Wellness Walk” during Pride week.
“[It] takes away from the experience of celebrating Pride,” the teacher said in internal messages.
“I feel that it is inappropriate to call our parade this morning a ‘Wellness Walk’ at all. While I understand that Wellness Walk is something that was previously in motion to promote health and fitness and is something we want to continue, it really takes away from the experience of celebrating Pride to couple the two,” the teacher said.
“The first Pride was a riot. It was not enough to just ‘welcome,’ ‘love,’ and ‘celebrate’ Queer folx,” she continued. “Your allyship should always lead you to activism – speaking up and fighting for what is right, even when it feels uncomfortable. We can’t choose in and out of our protest spaces.”
The teacher went on to say that of the 32 students that she teaches, “20 of them are LGBTQIA+ and have come out to me.”
“I feel that we need to do better – for them,” the teacher said. “To affirm our students, I think it would only be appropriate and right to publicly announce [that] what we had this morning was a PRIDE Parade.”
These are internal messages from a 4th grade elementary teacher in @AustinISD. She’s upset that an entire week dedicated to LGBT still wasn’t good enough. Coincidentally, 20/32 of her FOURTH GRADERS are LGBT and have “come out” to her
What the hell is going on in these schools?! pic.twitter.com/dCPjBEW7jv
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 28, 2022
Principal Rick Garner clarified to parents and staff that the parade was not a “wellness walk,” but a Pride Parade, according to an email provided to the Daily Caller.
“Thank you for participating in our Pride Parade this morning,” the email reads. “It was never my intention to confuse the staff or students by calling our Pride Parade a wellness walk. Our objective was to celebrate differences and promote inclusivity.”
Austin Independent School District faced backlash recently after an elementary school Pride week flier asked five-year-old students to keep conversations on LGBT topics “confidential.” (RELATED: Texas Elementary Schoolers Told To Keep Pride Week ‘Community Circles’ ‘Confidential’)
The district told the Daily Caller that community circles were designed to be confidential “in the sense that makes students feel trusted and respected for their privacy.”
“[It] does not mean don’t tell your parents,” the district’s media relations specialist said. “Every parent has the right to opt out of these activities … Everyone, not just parents, has access to the [community circles] materials ahead of time.”
Blackshear Elementary School did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
*story by The Daily Caller
(*) www.WhitePrideHomeSchool.com
