The Betrayal of Our Children

 
The transgender movement is pressing its agenda everywhere. Most publicly, activist teachers are using classrooms to propagandize on its behalf and activist health professionals are promoting the mutilation of children under the euphemistic banner of “gender-affirming care.”
Christopher F. Rufo, a distinguished fellow of Hillsdale College (2023)
 
It is a familiar term that has long since found its way into public education: “in loco parentis.” When it is used in the legal vernacular, it represents the role of the school in place of the parent. However, “When a caretaker organization and its employees allow a misguided and misplaced application of the term to usurp the role of the parent, the customer’s trust will decline and so too will the organization’s stature.”
(Dr. Roger Worner, four times Superintendent of Schools, consultant and associate professor).
 

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heir names are less important than the decision they made. Suffice it to say, they are public school officials promising to do what is right for children and staff members alike.
One, the high school principal, and the other, the Superintendent of Schools at Triton Public Schools, they were caught in the squeeze of political correctness. Sadly, the irreverent decision they made would not only show the forces at play in the school district, but in the end, a career educator, seeking a workplace accommodation due to his religious beliefs, would be terminated within 24 hours because he said no to transgenderism.
Once transgenderism became the issue in my classroom, I went searching for the following answer: “Under what authority does public education have the right to by-pass parental rights and exclude parents from the decision making process of their children?” The answer I found should send shivers up the spine of any parent who would send their child or children to a public school. Namely,“The National Education Association provides legal guidance on transgender students’ rights.” It is like putting the “fox” in the hen house.
In his book, “How the Mighty Fall,” author Jim Collins said, “Great enterprises can become insulated by success; accumulated momentum can carry an enterprise forward for a while, even if its leaders make poor decisions or lose discipline.” Moreover, he wrote, “When people become arrogant regarding success virtually as an entitlement, they lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place.”
According to a recent article in the Minnesota Star Tribune, Dr. Michael Joyner, a highly respected physician at the Mayo Clinic, made transgender sports participation the topic of discussion in a New York Times article when he said, “Girls had competitive advantages in sports such as swimming initially because of their development, but that boys outpaced them after puberty because of testosterone growth.” Subsequently, the Mayo Clinic not only suspended Dr. Joyner, but they said his comments “Reflected poorly on Mayo’s ‘brand and reputation’ and he must discuss approved topics only.”
As I reflected on the response of the Mayo Clinic, three things came to mind. First, something has changed. This is not the same family oriented medical center I read about in a book written by Leonard L. Berry and Kent D. Seltman. Titled, “Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic” (2008), their acknowledgments indicated that “This book was written with the blessings and cooperation...but not under the control...of Mayo Clinic.”
If true, this is not the kind of response Dr. Joyner received when it was reported that “Mayo is stifling public criticism and academic freedom when it sought to confine the doctor to a prescribed message.” Clearly a double standard!
Second, could the real issue be Dr. Joyner’s honest response to the transgender issue? After all, the Mayo Clinic is now at the forefront of performing transgender altering surgeries in spite of the fact that Dr. Michelle Cretella, Executive Director of the College of Pediatricians, says, “Transgender ideology is not just infecting our laws. It is intruding into the lives of the most innocent among us: our children.” A godless behavior at work!
And third, is it possible that the Mayo Clinic’s ‘brand and reputation’ has the kind of influence that could cause local school officials and Rochester area law firms to look the other way when it comes to the transgender issue? After all, they control the narrative in Rochester, Minnesota. Just a thought!
Over the course of the past 14 months, I have made numerous attempts to find a law firm that was willing to take on transgenderism and the kind of workplace retaliation that was perpetrated against me. Based on the fact that the Minnesota Department of Human Rights made the decision not to pursue my concerns; based on the fact that the administration at Triton Public Schools contacted Teachers On Call and had me removed from their substitute teachers’ list; based on the fact that Teachers On Call decided to terminate my services throughout the states of Minnesota and North Dakota, I have decided to write about my experience in a school district that I had faithfully served for seven years. The following quotations represent this disturbing event:
I have witnessed the forces at play when it comes to the transgender issue. It would begin when a junior (now a senior) at Triton High School said to me, “Dr. Lehman, he is not going to support you. He has already told us to shut up about transgender students.” This young man was talking about his high school principal.
I have witnessed the forces at play when a high school principal looked across the table and said to me, “Have you removed your name from future assignments?” Sadly, the high school student was right.
I have witnessed the forces at play when our Governor, Tim Walz, stood on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol and labeled educators like me, “Bullies, and he would not stand for it.” It sounds like a threat to me!
I have witnessed multiple attorneys push back in their chairs and make the pronouncement, “I am unwilling to pursue a claim for you. I would encourage you to contact firms in Minneapolis. Best of luck.”
And finally, I have witnessed the forces at play when a representative of the Minnesota Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in an email, “An accommodation not to teach a transgender student would be discrimination based on sex, and therefore an undue hardship against the transgender students.” Woke!
This takes me to some final thoughts. While I appreciate the fact that the transgender issue has become a rallying cry for the teachers’ unions, it does not prevent us from fighting for our children. As a matter of fact, it reminds me of an old Latin Proverb that says, “If there is no wind, row.” Ladies and gentlemen, this is for you:
You need to know what is happening when it comes to the transgender issue in public education.
You need to know that people are at risk of being “blacklisted” if they are public school employees willing to stand on their firmly held Christian beliefs.
You need to know that I no longer have the right to teach in my youngest granddaughter’s 3rd grade classroom because of what happened to me at Triton Public Schools.
You need to know that it will take a community to turn the tide if we are going to save our children.
You need to know that it is time to “clean house” in St. Paul. The current leadership is our enemy.
 
In conclusion, I leave you with a final quotation from one of the authors of this movement. I believe it would be in your best interests to take him/her very seriously. Why? Because these people are coming for our children.
Transgenderism is inherently political and is meant to advance a collective reconstruction or transformation, one that is a ‘technological construction’ that represents a war against Western society.
Susan Stryker, a male-to-female transgender professor at the University of Arizona (2023)
 
Dr. James Russell Lehman
Kenyon, Minnesota