FIRST ON FOX: A Maryland middle school presented a slideshow to 6th graders celebrating "Transgender Awareness Week" where the children were given a lesson that included "advice for coming out" and "8 tips for being nonbinary."
"A person's gender is who they feel that they are," middle schoolers at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, were told last month in a video that was contained in a 12-slide presentation obtained by Fox News Digital.
"It is important to understand the difference between sex and gender so that we can better understand ourselves," the slide says beneath the video, a video that was produced by the LGBT educational resource provider Pop'n'Olly.
Multiple slides in the presentation provide information on "what it means" to be transgender and students are then quizzed about what they learned.
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In another slide, students are told to discuss questions with their neighbor in class, including, "how do people know if they are a 'girl' or 'boy?'"
Another question reads, "The first thing people announce about their new baby is the gender, why do you think that is?"
Students were shown a video titled "Advice for Coming Out" along with a video titled "8 Tips for Being Nonbinary."
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In the video with nonbinary tips, a "nonbinary creator" named Laurenzo explains what to do if someone uses incorrect pronouns to describe an individual and how to find the best "label" that describes you.
Laurenzo, who has a large following on social media, also explains to students how to "bind" properly, referring to a term used to describe the process of flattening a female's breasts in order to appear less feminine.
The last slide of the presentation informs students that they can attend meetings for "Westland's LGBTQ+ Club" called "SAGA," which stands for "Sexuality and Gender Acceptance."
"There isn't a single justification for this cult-like propaganda being pushed on children at school," Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications for Defending Education, told Fox News Digital.
"They are presenting a harmful ideology as gospel to other people's children and manipulating language in ways that would almost be funny if it didn't come with so much risk. Many kids will rightly scoff and be unfazed by the absurdity of it all, but others may be vulnerable, potentially set down a path from which they can never fully return. These are 11- and 12-year-olds and nothing about this is remotely appropriate or defensible."
A spokesperson for Montgomery County Public Schools defended the lesson in a statement to Fox News Digital, explaining that it is the responsibility of the district to ensure that "every student feels safe, seen, and respected at school."
"Westland Middle School has used advisory lessons on a range of topics to help students understand differences, treat each other with kindness, and follow school expectations," the spokesperson said.
"These materials were communicated in advance, including clear information about opt-out procedures, which were followed. The lessons were about awareness, respect, and how to support peers in a school community that includes students of many backgrounds and lived experiences. Middle school is a time when questions come up, and schools must reinforce that bullying, harassment, and discrimination have no place in our buildings."
