Blogger accuses schools of 'radical sex education,' organizes Monday Charlotte protest
A conservative blogger is helping organize a national protest against what supporters call "radical, graphic, taxpayer funded, gender-bending sex education."
In Charlotte, protesters will gather Monday to target sex ed and the Welcoming Schools program, which Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools uses to help with acceptance of LGBTQ students.
Tami Fitzgerald, of Raleigh-based NC Values Coalition, said she has been getting phone calls from parents, teachers and counselors in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools “saying ‘Please help us, you can’t believe what they’re teaching our kids in school."
National conservative blogger Elizabeth Johnston, who calls herself the "Activist Mommy," is helping organize the event and had said earlier this month that she will participate in Charlotte. Johnston home-schools her own 10 children, but is urging other parents protest during the "Sex Ed Sit Out."
"I represent the 2 million homeschoolers in America who come from tax-paying households that are disgusted by the teaching of anal sex, oral sex and masturbation during school hours," Johnston had written in an email to the Observer.
Weather forecasts called for a 95 percent chance of rain on Monday at 5 p.m.
“We’re planning to be out there with umbrellas,” Fitzgerald said Monday morning. “Rain or shine we will be there.”
Fitzgerald confirmed Johnston will be at the rally, saying she was already in Charlotte Monday morning.
She said she hoped the weather would not keep people away from the event.
“But this is an important issue worth standing in the rain for.”
Other locations hosting protests include Sacramento, Calif.; Spokane, Wash.; Bloomington, Ind.; and Austin and San Antonio, Texas, according to Johnston.
On April 23 in North Carolina, the NC Values Coalition is urging parents to keep their children home and to send a letter to the school administration explaining why.
A pre-form letter is on the sexedsitout.com website and says: "Pornographic sex education and anti-bullying curriculum is being implemented across our globe in an attempt to indoctrinate our children with 'sexual rights'."
The April 23 protest will be held at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Fitzgerald said that rally will also protest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Welcoming Schools program. She accused the anti-bullying curriculum as being "intended to indoctrinate children as young as five about homosexuality, transgenderism and all other LGBT behaviors.”
Charlotte school leaders have said they’re using age-appropriate lessons and classroom practices to ensure a safe place for the most vulnerable children to learn.
“It’s not about advocacy. It’s not about condoning or damning,” a Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools official said in an earlier story. “It’s about supporting our students.”
The Sex Ed Sit Out's national Facebook page has more than 11,000 likes on Monday.
Johnston made news last year for launching a #pullteenvogue campaign after Teen Vogue magazine published a how-to guide on anal sex. That action earned praise from Franklin Graham. Johnston posted a video of herself burning the magazine on Facebook, and the video garnered 15 million views.
This story was originally published April 12, 2018 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Blogger accuses schools of 'radical sex education,' organizes Monday Charlotte protest."