Lock Up Your Schools, The Transgenders Are Coming!

There I was, just minding my own business, when an ad from Dear South Africa - that's right, the petition website portraying itself as a civic-minded action entity - crossed my feed.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the heading "Have your say on the Department of Basic Education's gender ideology training programme".

The...what?

The actual FUCK did I just read?

Wait-a-minute... Why is this even an issue?

And if you're thinking "this is bound to be another case of hysterical screaming, and panicked arm-waving again", well - you'd be perfectly right.

Have a look at the content of this call to action below, and see if you can see anything untoward:

"❗️CALL FOR COMMENT AT THE LINK — GENDER IDEOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMME IN PRIMARY AND PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS❗️

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has covertly introduced the “ECE Toolkit”, a gender ideology and gender identity training programme for primary and pre-primary teachers, and by extension, for primary and pre-primary school children (0 – 9yrs).

Concerns are growing that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has been ideologically captured following the discovery that a “Social Cohesion and Equity in Education” unit has been created within the DBE.

This unit has developed a Gender-Responsive Pedagogy for Early Childhood Education (GRP4ECE) – a.k.a the ECE Toolkit – which presents a single ideology and worldview that directly subverts the views and values traditionally held by many parents and communities.

By way of example, the ECE Toolkit trains educators to:
• Ask learners from a young age for their preferred name and pronoun… to make room for children who may be exploring their gender identity and demonstrate that gender identity should not be assumed.
• Use “they” and “them” to let children know that we cannot assume someone’s gender identity just by looking at them.
• Ensure that children have access to toilet facilities that correspond with their gender identity… Teachers should work with children to address the discomfort and foster understanding of gender diversity.

⭕️Do you support the Department of Basic Education’s “ECE Toolkit” initiative to train teachers to introduce transgender ideology in pre-primary and primary schools?

HAVE YOUR SAY AT THE LINK RIGHT AWAY — https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/ece-toolkit/"

Oh dear, whatever is the world coming to? 

Kids who are already LGB or T will be taught to realize it, and to also accept themselves. How dare the Dept of Basic Education prevent homophobic and transphobic parents from abusing and brainwashing their kids?

Kids will be taught not to assume a person's gender identity, to add using gender-neutral pronouns to their vocabulary, and to have the good manners to ask other people how they would like to be addressed - stop the press folks, kids are about to have compassion for others forced upon them. Yes, clearly the world's about to end... send for a dozen crash helmets and Chicken Little.

Right then...

If you find this petition to be motivated by small-minded conservative pettiness, or by right wing religious "boomerism" and spite, as I do, feel free to go and sign their "petition" by saying you agree with the Department's initiative, and letting them know it in the comments. While you're at it, feel free to send Rob an appropriate reply to his email after he auto-sends you one to thank you for your "support", or email him direct at rob@dearsouthafrica.co.za.

I copied my email in here just FYI:

"Dear Rob Hutchinson,

The fact that Dear South Africa can even entertain such a bullshit non-issue and allow and sponsor an actual petition for it demonstrates that YOU as "Dear SA" have been "captured" by the homophobic/transphobic religious fanatic elements dwelling in the sewers of this country's so-called "religious right" wing.

Transgender people face daily transphobic exclusion, violence and even death all over the world, and even here in South Africa it's no picnic. Just what have transgender people ever done to YOU personally that you decided to avail your platform to this sort of asinine twaddle and to literally promote hysteria, a witch-hunt and stochastic terrorism?

What I find so inflammatory about this petition is the fake outrage and hysteria about children being taught A) COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING for others and B) of themselves - and the portrayal of such a human-rights benefit for future generations as "being captured by 'gender ideology'" as if it is somehow a danger to children. 

 

This sort of half-witted claptrap plays right into the hands of those who try to convince the public that transwomen are "groomers" or that they transition to compete in women's sports because "they couldn't hack it in the men's division".

One would think that the actual danger to children would be growing up fearful of being themselves or discovering who they are under the oppressive mantle of ignorance and religious fundamentalist brutality which you appear to be fostering through the material and statements included in your petition and your promotion of it. 

 

To simply it a bit for you, in the US kids have to worry about getting shot up in their schools by gun-nuts and deal with the trauma of "active shooter drills" and having armed security in their classrooms - while in South Africa most kids worry about having food to eat, getting a proper education, and perhaps not getting pregnant or stabbed by a fellow student.

With all the very real problems affecting kids in SA schools today, you'd think the very last thing people ought to be concerned about should be ensuring that their kids get a better education, get taught compassion and understanding for others, and to use appropriate terms when addressing other people, or themselves. 

 

But - oh my god, the world is ending! Run around and wave your arms in the air, shouting "the transgenders are coming for your kids!"

Not only does your "petition" and the wording of your advertising for it enforce the very system of abuse that encourages the small-minded pettiness that freaks out the moment a little girl plays with a toy car instead of learning to be an incubator by playing with dolls, or a little boy asks for a My Little Pony for Xmas instead of practicing to wage war and kill people, but to add insult to injury, the wording of it seeks to incite hatred and hostility against transgender people. Judging from the litany of agreeable comments your vile product is attracting, I'd say it seems to be off to a good start.

Do YOU or your intended demographic for this petition even KNOW what it is you're railing against? When did you get your degree in education or child psychology? Have you even the slightest acquaintance with the latest DSM or even local SA mental health guidelines? What made you an expert on understanding or interpreting transgender issues?

To paraphrase the fundamentalist's "y'all people need Jesus" trope; y'all need to read a bloody science book.

I am nauseated by this unmitigated load of blind, ignorant, hateful, bigoted transphobic asshattery, and as someone who has frequently signed previous petitions from Dear SA in the past on serious social issues affecting South Africans, I won't be doing so in future.

Sincerely,

Christina Engela"

 

Only liars fear truth.

 

Only warmongers fear the outbreak of peace.

 

Only those filled with hate fear love.

 

Only the maliciously ignorant fear becoming educated.

 

The motives of the people in these examples need to be examined, understood and questioned.

 

To close, I toyed with the idea of using "SA Kids To Be Taught Compassion & Understanding - Conservatives Lose Their Tiny Minds, As Usual" as the title for this article. Although it's a bit long, I think it describes this barrow-ful of horseshit perfectly, even if it's missing a few expletives. 

 

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

 

After all that, I think I need a strong cuppa coffee. Y'all have a nice day now.