The class at South High School draws the ire of parents

Posted on October 20, 2022

The class at South High School draws the ire of parents

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – Parents and the public are in an uproar over a student who walked out of class last Friday in an elective taught to South High students.

Students, staff and parents at Southern High School remain outraged at a student who walked out on a sociology elective course that teaches about transgender children and gender identity in society.

Screams from the mother and the audience, claiming that the teacher is a pederast and that the class is a means of training his students.

LCSD1 staff says they post descriptions of this sociology class online for students and parents to review from the beginning of the year.

“Because it’s an elective course and often a prerequisite for higher education, students talk about a variety of topics, including gender identity and other debates. What teachers pre-load, the student knows they have an access point in the classroom if you’re not comfortable,” says Margaret Crespo, LCSD1 Superintendent.

According to district officials, the parents went to the school board to complain and have not spoken to the school’s teachers or administrators since the incident.

“We hope that parents are working with students on all of their course options. They’re online all the time, so they can see what curriculum is available or what their students are available to sign up for,” Crespo said.

A Wyoming Equality spokesperson says classes like these help affirm LGBTQ students.

“The kids in this school right now are trans, so pretending they don’t exist doesn’t change whether or not they learn to be around them and act compassionately,” said Ammon Medina, Wyoming’s deputy director of Equality.

According to a recent report by Wyoming Equality and GLSEN, 80 percent of LGBTQ students do not feel safe in schools and have higher rates of suicide because of this feeling of insecurity.

District materials indicate that this class was approved in 2016, verified by educators in a 45-day curriculum review, and is offered at all high schools in the district.

“We’re preparing these students to go into the real world, to be leaders, to be members of the community, and to be a good community member, a good leader, a good citizen in our state, then they need to be prepared to live with all kinds of people,” Medina said.