Kids, Inclusion and the Magic Kingdom

Welcome back to an all new season of WholeHeartEd, the relationship education series where our goal is to build a more healthy and God honoring world by providing tools to build more healthy and God honoring relationships, starting by building healthy and Christ-following people. We took the summer off to focus on creating even more resources for all of you, but we’re back now!

A lot has happened during our break. Right at the beginning of the summer the state of Florida was already involved in a heated debate about schools and inclusion with the proposal of what the media coined as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Eventually, the entertainment media juggernaut, the Walt Disney Company, threw their financial weight into the confrontation, siding against Gov. DeSantis in his push to limit the content that younger students could be taught about sexuality and LGBT+ individuals and relationships.

That firestorm carried on into the early part of the summer with everyone from actors and celebrities, to politicians, to teachers, to parents all sharing and expressing their opinions online. Now that the dust has settled to some extent, we’re going to dig into the details of what actually happened, what some of the responses were and why all of this matters. If this is your first time with us, like, subscribe and leave a comment to join in on the conversation. The Big Question for today is: Should early elementary teachers be talking about sex to their students? Let us know your thoughts below and we’ll dive in to

"Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards." That is the actual legal phrasing used in the Parental Rights in Education bill or, in what the vast majority of the media labeled as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was passed by the state Senate in March. From that phrasing, it’s clear that the “Don’t Say Gay” moniker was a bit of a stretch, intentionally applied to drum up the anger of those who heard it. In reality, the bill is restricting school staff from instructing on sexual orientation and gender identity between kindergarten and 3rd grade. On the face, that doesn’t seem like a very controversial thing to say but, as we saw, that didn’t stop the controversy from coming.

While countless celebrities and media personalities poured wave after wave of support against those trying to block the bill, it was the statement made by Disney that caught the most attention as some estimates claim that their company brings in over $70 billion dollars of revenue to the state. In a statement released by Disney, they said, “Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the statement reads. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”

So, the controversy here is that we have two opposing ideologies. Both sides claim that they are trying to act on behalf of and in the best interests of vulnerable children. Because of its impact on children and families, this is an incredibly emotionally charged argument, which makes finding a clear path forward difficult. There can’t really be an amicable response when someone says what you interpret to be, “I’m coming after your kids.” On both sides, them’s fighting words. So, instead of buying into the emotional rhetoric, as followers of Christ and responsible citizens, we have the obligation to mead out the truth from the lies and do what actually is in the children’s best interest.

Matthew 18:5 and 6 say, ““Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” - Jesus is not playing games when it comes to the protection of kids. So, which side of the argument is protecting kids and which side is leading them into sin? Well, to accept the notion that it is appropriate for an adult to be discussing sexuality with children between 5 and 9 years old, you have to buy into the concept that we are sexual from birth, that our sexual preferences are encoded on us like our hair color and the shape of our eyes, and that it is actually beneficial to encourage these young children to start exploring their sexuality as soon are comfortable to do so. Now, in any other context, wouldn’t that sort of talk from an adult to a child seem, I don’t know, creepy?

During all of this, a video was leaked of an internal video conference of Disney employees, where a producer proudly declares her “not-so-secret gay agenda” by inserting LGBT+ imagery, characters and messaging into their animated children’s shows. For years, that very idea was consistently denied by numerous media organizations, but now it’s all out in the open and they’re not even attempting to hide their intentions anymore. The moral compass used by Disney and the majority of mainstream media companies is diametrically opposed to orthodox biblical Christian teaching. Sex was created to happen within the context of marriage. Marriage is between one man and one woman for life. Any sexual practices outside of that context is, by the biblical definition, sinful.

So, do we, as Christians, gay-bash, demean, and otherwise hate on those who practice unbiblical sexual behaviors? Absolutely not, but that doesn’t mean we are confined to silence on the subject either. The biblical view on sin is not that God created a list of arbitrary rules for us to follow as a show of religious fidelity to Him. On the contrary, the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. We don’t stand on some high pedestal as believers, looking down at all of the horrible sinners around us, but as redeemed sinners ourselves who have been saved from the natural and supernatural death rightly attributed to us by our own sins through the atoning death of Jesus and now, we want to save as many people as we can from that end. Of course, the greatest and final example of that death is Hell, unimaginable pain experienced in eternal separation from God but, we also see it trickling down on this side of eternity, as well. If the wages of sin really are death, then it makes sense that teen sex leads to dramatically increased depression and suicide. It’s no wonder that as we continue to reject God’s authority in our lives, we see things getting exponentially worse, not better. We were never meant to be God and it destroys us to rebel against the One who not only created us, but Who loves us more than we could possibly imagine. When we reject His design for who we were created to be, we put ourselves in a place that our frail humanity can’t sustain. So, when a true follower of Christ says that pre-marital sex, homosexuality or any of the other myriad of sexual sins are exactly that, sin, that is not “hate-speech.” They are, we are, doing the most loving thing that we could ever do for you by revealing what is wrong and directing you to the only One who can make you whole.

It is great to be back and we are just getting started. If you thought today’s video was a touchy subject, just wait until you come back next week when we discuss one of the highest trending questions of the summer - #WhatIsAWoman? ----- See? I told you we were coming out swinging! Let us know your take on whether early elementary teachers should be teaching their students about sex. Remember to be kind and extend love in the comments section.