A growing number of parents and advocacy groups are voicing concerns over a controversial program funded by the Biden administration that pulls students out of class for LGBTQ+ activism training—without parental consent. The program, known as Proud & Empowered (P&E), is receiving significant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), totaling $2.5 million. Its stated goal is to help LGBTQ-identifying youth cope with what it terms “minority stress” —a term that refers to the mental and emotional strain caused by societal discrimination against LGBTQ individuals— but has sparked backlash from parents who argue that such programs undermine parental rights and expose children to sensitive topics about gender and sexuality without their knowledge or consent.
The Proud & Empowered (P&E) initiative is a 10-week intervention running in 24 high schools in the Los Angeles area, designed to offer support to LGBTQ+ youth. In their own words, the program seeks to to provide a space for LGBTQ students to discuss issues related to gender identity, sexuality, and social justice.
Over the course of the program, students participate in various sessions, including discussions about “Coming Out, Disclosure and Decision Making,” “Families of Origin and the Families We Create,” and LGBTQ+ history. One sample lesson encourages students to read about LGBTQ youth leadership, such as high schoolers leading walkouts and marches. Another session includes a “queer history” jeopardy game, which some critics argue crosses a line between education and political activism.
What has raised alarm bells for many parents is that students can participate in the program without requiring parental consent. Researchers working on the intervention even requested a waiver of the parental permission requirement, citing concerns that “disclosure of their sexual orientation to their parents” could lead to “parental harassment, abuse, or expulsion from the parental home.”
This lack of parental oversight is a central point of contention. While students as young as 12 and up to 20 years old are eligible for the program, there is no formal requirement for parents to be informed or give permission.
In addition to the lack of parental consent, the program also offers financial incentives, which critics argue may further complicate the ethical considerations surrounding the initiative. Students participating in the program can receive $75 gift cards, while school staff can earn $1,000, and the schools themselves are offered a $4,000 honorarium. The funding is ostensibly meant to support LGBTQ+ programming in schools, but some question whether it could be used to pressure students into participating.
The intervention is designed to take place during a weekly 10-week session, potentially disrupting students’ regular school schedules. The website for the program explains that schools are tasked with recruiting 8-12 LGBTQ+ students to participate in the intervention once a week, and that sessions may occur during homeroom periods, lunch breaks or regular class time.
The program is being tested at a number of schools in the Los Angeles area, with half of the schools receiving the intervention and the other half serving as a control group. While researchers argue that the intervention is designed to improve mental health and reduce the effects of discrimination, critics have raised concerns about whether it goes too far in promoting LGBTQ+ activism in an educational setting.
Seijah Drake was born in Boston, MA, where she developed a penchant for writing early on and a passion for politics in college. After college she worked briefly for a conservative media in New York before relocating to the Greater D.C. Area to pursue a career in political marketing. She now resides in the free state of Florida.
Dims as usual weaponizing the “education” system for indoctrination. They long ago learned to emulate their national socialist brothers in arms.
Disgusting🤮🤮🤮. If our government stopped spending our tax dollars on things the American People don’t want there wouldn’t be a deficit. Stop pissing away our tax dollars on your social engineering.