The Lady Gaga 'Born This Way Foundation' is selecting schools across the US to receive funds to implement the 'teen MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID' (tMHFA) program part of the MHFA.org and National Council for Behavior Health. The program is a Texas Education Agency (TEA) approved early mental health prevention program. As reported by Texas media, thirty-five schools across the nation were selected fall of 2019 to participate in the pilot program.
After the program was deployed in Canyon, TX, in the CISD, our team had the chance to review the program and it's materials. We deem this program as harmful to children. Let's walk through the supporting data.
1- Glamorizes a Sexually Explicit, LGBTQ Advocate
The term "sexually explicit" is often used as euphemism for pornography. In her 2017 Netflix documentary (rated MA) named “Gaga: Five Foot Two”, Lady Gaga officially stepped into the world of pornographic film when she is recorded from the waist up 'in the nude'. The performer/actress is longtime vocal supporter of the LGBT community and is known to frequently push the boundaries of explicit sexual expression. The tMHFA promotional video that is shown to children before the program begins idolizes Lady Gaga. The video displays her sharing her mental health journey and giving kids tickets to her concert. The kids join her on stage during a show further glamorizing her. Most communities want children to aspire to leaders who represent dignity, character and morality.
Parental rights are a cornerstone of public education and all parents should be notified and have to opt in if political activists or porn stars plan to be presented to children as to always respect family and religious values. Presenting program information to parents and not being fully transparent about the content on the opt in form is deceptive.
2- Undermines Parents' or Parental Rights
Throughout the entire visual presentation, parents are never the primary resource for help. The program directs children to many other choices such as mental health experts, school leadership, health care providers or another adult. This may instruct children they have rights to confidentiality and privacy from their parents. Parents should always be the first choice when their child is in need. According to the Supreme Court, parents have a fundamental right to control the upbringing and education of their children (1). Schools cannot surpass the parents' role in guiding children's beliefs and emotional development and in guarding their children's health and well-being (2).
3- Normalizes Transgenderism
The program includes a video testimonial of a child named 'Novak' who vocally identifies as transgender and talks about his mental health journey and how he/she received help. This normalizes transgenderism and is the unspoken gender affirmation of the child's decision to alter his/her biological sex.
"Gender identity" is a psychological phenomenon (3). It is not found anywhere in the body, the brain, or in the DNA. And there is not objective medical scan or test that can detect or validate it. Studies have shown that 69 to 98 percent of children will resolve conflicts between their feelings and their bodies by adulthood if not subjected to "gender affirmation treatments". However, in at least one study, nearly 100 percent of children started on puberty-blockers go on to more invasive procedures, leading to ...
sterilization
loss of healthy body parts (mastectomies aka 'top surgery')
loss of healthy body parts (castration)
mutilation
Testosterone in females results in... (4)
infertility
recommended hysterectomy
body & facial hair
alters facial features
lowers a voice
alters female private anatomy permanently
It is therefore no surprise that a rising number of youth are beginning to express painful regret for public affirmation, interventions and their irreversible effects on their health, appearance, fertility, and sexual function. Support is becoming more common with websites like 'Sex Change Regret'. A child under 18 years of age is too young to consent to changing their sex. We know that more than 40% of the people who transition attempt suicide (5) after the operation.
Normalizing transgender behavior is, indeed, child abuse.
4- Violates Students' Rights
Students have a right to scientifically accurate information about human biology (3). They have the right to know that there are only two sexes: male and female. Schools should teach that sex is not a disease, puberty is not scary, and there is nothing to hate about their body. In fact, that the human body should be celebrated. Students have a right to religious freedom and cannot be forced to engage in activities that violate their conscience. Public school education should never crush a child's rights of conscience or cultural traditions. When the self-identifying child named 'Novak' gave a video testimonial during the presentation, students' rights are trampled if they are not notified about the promotion of gender-identity content. The same goes for parental rights.
5- Presentation Help Resources Are Harmful
Upon completion of each mental health lesson, the presentation points children towards two resources for help.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Phone Number & Website)
Crisis Text Line (Text Number & Website)
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website, suicidepreventionlifeline.org, has a large chat graphic on the page signally as the fastest access to mental health help. In order to chat with a specialist and receive mental health help, a child must first enter their name, email and then identify as one of the twelve following choices.
Girl/Woman
Boy/Man
Genderqueer
Genderfluid
Non-binary
Third gender
Two spirit
Gender nonconforming
Agender
I’m not sure (Questioning)
Decline to answer
A gender not listed here
The following question asks a child 'Do you identify as transgender?' with the possible choices...
Yes
No
I'm not sure
Decline to answer
There are 4 additional questions after these before a child can begin the chat dialog.
This barrier to receive help is the normalization of the gender spectrum as well as normalization and affirmation of transgenderism. This is extremely harmful for gender dysphoric children or children with other mental health issues that are seeking a solution. Public school should be doing everything in their power to encourage children to stay in their same sex bodies until they reach adulthood and not opening the door or exposing children to new ideas about altering their sex. Adolescents should look to adults for sound counsel and not mislead them down a path that eliminates a future that they cannot yet fully comprehend.
We did not contact the phone number listed for National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, but one can only assume that their questioning would be at least somewhat similar to that present on their website.
Our team did text the Crisis Text Line and started dialog. We represented ourselves as a suicidal teen who thought she was pregnant. At a point, we quit responding. Eventually, the text was ended. There was not further follow-up via text or phone call from the Crisis Text Line. Our concern is that a child might be in a desperate state and there was never any checkup or follow-up as to their state of mind.
6- Text Resources & Handouts Are Harmful
Students receive a tMHFA manual to use during the course that they can take home after the last session. Parents also receive tMHFA handouts. The program manual 6,7 and handouts reference multiple resources that are harmful to children and fall under the guidelines of sex education.
Go Ask Alice! is listed as a site geared for young adults. The description says that children "can browse through this question and answer website which contains a large database of questions about a variety of concerns surrounding emotional health." This site has the most radical sexual information we've ever seen. Here are just a few of the topics Alice can answer.
Is semen nutritious?
How to breastfeed your partner?
Husband into porn and masturbation, but not me. What to do?
Ben Wa Balls do what exactly?
Sex with stuff animals, is it bad?
Cock-stuffing
Yearning to drink my urine, safe?
My boyfriend wants me to hit him?
Other commentary on butt beads, dental dams, etc.
The kind of sexual perversion is not in the best interest of children and is harmful for their mental health.
A secondary text resource is Teens Health. This site also contains sexual content and sites Planned Parenthood as a resource. Planned parenthood is the nation's top abortion provider. Pushing children towards a medical facility that will end the life of an unborn child and result in a lifetime of regret is not in the best interest of the child.
The Teens Health website as well at the tMHFA manual also recommend The Trevor Project as a resource. This site aggressively promotes children identify their homosexuality with their Coming Out Handbook as well as normalizing the gender spectrum and ignoring medical truths that there are only 2 sexes.
If children have a same sex attraction or gender dysphoria that does not mean you should be discriminated against. Schools should never mistreat any child because of their desires or struggles. We want to treat everyone with equal dignity, respect and love. Schools should want to serve children in this struggle and not doom them by promoting they become something they are not. The damage is irreversible. The suicide rate for transgender children is 40%.
Conclusion
There are numerous other help resources that we did not examine. The information presented above is more than enough to categorize this program as harmful to children.
References Sited
1 Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925);Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 66(2000) (*As our case law has developed, the custodial parent has a constitutional right to determine, without undue interference by the State, how to best raise, nurture, and educate the child."); see also Wisconsin v. Yoder 406 U.S. 205, 233(1972).
2 Parham v J.R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979); Wisconsin v. Yoder 406 U.S. 205 (1972); Arnold v. Escambia Co. Bd. of Ed., 880 F.2d 305 (11th Cir 1989); Gruenke v. Seip, 225 F3d 290 (3d Cir. 2000)
4 Irreversible Damage, The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
6 Mental Health First Aid USA (2020). teen MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID USA: 'A manual for young people in 10th-12th grade helping their friends.; Washington DC: National Council for Behavioral Health; ISBN 978-0-9600905-6-3; (larger 8.5x11 gloss cover)
7 Mental Health First Aid USA (2019). teen MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID USA: 'A manual for young people in 10th-12th grade helping their friends.; Washington DC: National Council for Behavioral Health; ISBN 978-0-9600905-6-3; (smaller 8.25x5.25 paperback )
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