Millions of parents around the globe have suddenly been thrust into a home-schooling scenario due to coronavirus.

Some must follow guidelines and lesson plans from their school, others are free to create their own educational programs.

The New York Times has a dedicated learning section in their publication. The Learning Network is billed as a place to “Teach and Learn With The Times: Resources for Bringing the World Into Your Classroom.”

Parents need to be aware of lesson plans that teachers pick up from around the internet. In January the New York Times published this as a suggested lesson plan.

              Lesson of the Day: ‘Sashaying Their Way Through Youth’

In this lesson, students will learn about tween and teen drag queens and think about their own identity and self-expression.

As recently as the 1970s, dressing as another gender could lead to arrest. Today, L.G.B.T.Q. people are losing their rights and face violence in the United States and around the world. In spite of this, young people are pushing back against the gender binary and expressing their identity with freedom through drag.

In this lesson, you will learn about the history of drag and about several preteen and teen drag queens. Then we ask you to consider the ways you express your identity through art and culture.

The lesson is completely biased and in favour of child drag queens. It encourages students to be critical of anyone who opposes the phenomenon. The language and activities all point to affirming drag queens and does not allow for critical analysis.

Kirralie Smith, Binary spokeswoman, reminded parents to be vigilant with what their children are learning.

“This lesson plan is biased and reads as an advertisement for drag queens. True learning should expose the student to both sides and allow them to draw a reasonable conclusion. The lesson fails to teach the student that the majority of drag queens rely on hypersexualised content, perform in adult only venues and dress in ways that mock rigid, out-dated stereotypes of women.”

“Of course, any reasonable parent would refuse to teach this lesson to their kids, but this just goes to show how committed activists are to mainstreaming drag queen culture and indoctrinating kids.

“This lesson is more about indoctrination that education. The simple fact is, drag queens are not for kids.”