PA House Republicans demand action from Acting Education Secretary Hagarty over gender theory curriculum

State Representative Barbara Gleim | Pennsylvania 199th Legislative District

By Cumberland Valley News

Aug 8, 2022

HARRISBURG – Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Clinton) and 20 state House Republican lawmakers are calling for the resignation of acting Pennsylvania Education Secretary Eric Hagarty unless he reverses what they describe as Gender Theory Student Indoctrination in K-12 public schools.

“The PA Department of Education and all K-12 public school faculty and administrators have an obligation to educate, not indoctrinate,” said Borowicz. “For the sake of our children, Pennsylvania’s acting Education Secretary needs to either actively remove all traces of Gender Theory Indoctrination currently plastered throughout the department’s website/curriculum or immediately submit his resignation. This is precisely why the Legislature needs to enact an enforceable Parental Bill of Rights so families can freely direct the upbringing of their children without inappropriate sexual content or demoralizing, gender-neutral pronouns invading our taxpayer-funded classrooms.”

The Department of Education defines “binary gender” as the “faulty concept” that there are “only two genders: male and female.”

“The PA Department of Education is espousing a secular worldview on their website, and worldviews have been barred from public schools since the 1960s,” said Rep. Barb Gleim (R-Cumberland). “The secular worldview that there are more than two genders is faulty in and of itself, and can’t be proven, and the source and provided resources for this teaching should be removed from the classroom and the website immediately. If the Secretary of Education continues down this road, I agree that he is unfit to meet the demands of his office.”

The education department’s gender identity web page includes a lesson guide for teachers to host a “gender-neutral day” in their classrooms for grades 3-12. The guide specifies that students should pick two to three ways they will reject gender stereotypes for the day, while teachers make specific commitments to challenge gender norms.

“With the discovery of this reprehensible indoctrination lunacy targeting children as young as 8 years old, it’s no wonder that the governor vetoed my curriculum transparency legislation,” stated Rep. Andrew Lewis (R-Dauphin). "Today, we are calling on the Secretary of Education to immediately resign or remove this content from the PDE website."

Another section on creating gender-inclusive schools includes a tutorial on preferred gender-neutral personal pronouns and instructs teachers to ask before making assumptions about someone’s gender identity.

“This is only the latest example of why record numbers of families are choosing educational options such as homeschool, charter school or private school,” emphasized Rep. David Rowe (R-Union). "Education dollars should follow the student rather than using taxpayer dollars to subject 8-year-olds to indoctrination by progressive bureaucrats."

In addition to Borowicz, Gleim, Lewis, and Rowe, other lawmakers supporting this ultimatum include:

•Rep. Mike Armanini (R-Elk)

•Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Butler)

•Rep. Jim Cox (R-Berks)

•Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon)

•Rep. Joe Hamm (R-Lycoming)

•Rep. Mike Jones (R-York)

•Rep. Dawn Keefer (R-York)

•Rep. Rob Kauffman (R-Franklin)

•Rep. David Maloney (R-Berks)

•Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler)

•Rep. Kathy Rapp (R-Warren)