Will County Gazette

A Bolingbrook Middle School is instructing its teachers in how to be more "pro LGBT," demanding they stop using terms like "boys" and "girls," use "LGBT adult role models" in their lessons and put "gay pride" rainbow flags on their desks.

That's according to emails and a 25-page powerpoint presented Wednesday to Brooks Middle School Teachers as part of paid "in service training," obtained by the Will County Gazette. (READ the full Powerpoint HERE)

The powerpoint was produced and presented by Kristin and Peter Shulman of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), an advocacy group for so-called "queer ideology," which argues that biological sex doesn't actually exist. It says it provides "education to enlighten the public."

The Shulmans, of Naperville, lectured Brooks teachers on "truths about being LGBTQIA+" and offered suggestions for how they could "demonstrate" their were supportive of PFLAG's position on political issues.

"We recognize & accept diversity of ethnicity & race," read a slide titled, Getting to Acceptance. "Gender identity, and expression, and sexual orientation are also diverse. It’s a scientific and medical fact; they exist on a spectrum."

"We can’t impose identities (and roles) on our children that are based on our beliefs that are inconsistent with their reality," the Shulmans wrote. "We have to let them be themselves."

"Let the child tell you their name and pronouns," read a slide titled Pronouns, Going beyond He/Him, She/Hers. “Use your own pronouns to signal that you are an ally. Using the wrong pronouns imposes our assumptions on another individual."

Sometimes, this flexibility leads students to decide they aren't human at all. At Hinsdale Central H.S., some teens are pretending to be cats, wearing cat costumes and hissing at their classmates like animals.

The Shulmans told teachers they should, "whenever possible include LGBT adult role models in curriculum and discussions," arguing it is now illegal not to do so. He cited House Bill 246, signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019, which requires public schools to deliberately instruct students on the accomplishments of gays.

Teachers should eliminate use of the words "boys" and "girls" and instead refer to students as "kids," "class" or "scholars," the deck said. And they should also stop using "moms" and "dads," replacing them with "families and caring adults."

To "identify your classroom as a safe space," the Shulmans said teachers should "put a small rainbow flag on (their) desk or in (their) pencil holder" and "wear an Ally button." 

And they should never use the word "gay" as it might be offensive.

"No! We don’t say 'that is just so gay,' the Shulmans wrote.

"What can we do to make our classrooms more LGBTQ friendly"," they asked in the presentation Q & A. "How do we handle situations where (7th and 8th grade) students come out to us, but want it kept a secret from (their moms and dads)?"

The school had 1,123 students enrolled for the 2021-22 school year; 46 percent were Hispanic, 23 percent black, 18 percent white and seven percent Asian.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, 59.7 percent of Brooks students failed the Illinois Assessment of Readiness test in 2021, performing below grade level on the test.

Principal Keith Wood taught in Maywood School District 89 and Berkeley School District 87 before coming to Brooks in 2011.

Brooks is part of Valley View School District 365.

PFLAG Bolingbrook meets on the second Sunday of each month at Friendship United Methodist Church on Boughton Rd. in Bolingbrook.