It's California Law
The California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA), ensures that Comprehensive Sexual Health Education in schools is gender inclusive, unfortunately the majority of our schools are not currently in compliance. CHYA is written with grades 7-12 in mind, however, it is legislation that elementary schools use to follow suit. Learn more about CHYA from our resources below, in both English & Spanish:
Why Early Intervention Is Necessary
The need for a gender-inclusive sexual health curriculum in elementary schools can be explained simply: When a trans or non-binary student attends 5th grade, when sexual health education is taught per the California State Health standards, if their school still has a cisgender binary (boy/girl) curriculum, the trans or non-binary student will have to choose to go in the "male" or "female" class groupings. The non-compliant, binary curriculum still separates teaching amongst cisgender female and male groupings. In this situation, for example, a transgender male student who is not yet out and does not want to be outed will choose to go in the "male" grouping, however, neither grouping would be adequate for our trans male student to attend as neither will include curriculum pertaining to the experience he will live as a trans male going through puberty. Consequently, transgender students do not receive education on what to expect during puberty, and, not seeing themselves represented in comprehensive sexual education, receive the message that they and their futures are not important or of value. Situations such as these can make trans and non-binary students feel invisible, irrelevant, and fearful, and may lead to poor mental health, poor quality of life, and, in the worst cases, suicide.
APT Vetted Curriculums for More Than 2 Years
APT is working with school districts in Sonoma County and beyond to support in adopting a gender-inclusive Family/Life Sex Education curriculum that complies with CHYA. APT has been vetting curriculums for over two years. As a result, we have found gender-inclusive curriculums for elementary schools and beyond. One of our top intersectional and gender-inclusive curriculums is Super Star. We continue to work in support of the continual evolution of the most inclusive curriculum for elementary schools.