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April 05, 2022 01:54 PM UTC

Heidi Ganahl Straight Up Lies About Sex Education

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Heidi Ganahl just says whatever

In case you haven’t been watching Fox News regularly or keeping up with the latest in Republican cancel culture, we need to lay out some context before we get to the meat of a story that includes Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Hiedi Heidi Ganahl.

Republicans want to cancel all things Disney because that company spoke out against the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law recently enacted in Florida. Greg Sargent explains for The Washington Post — in a column featuring Boebert — about what has Republicans so salty these days:

Boebert, Vance and others are angry that Disney has come out against Florida’s new law restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. They are upset about a leaked video that showed a Disney executive talking about inserting pro-gay material into Disney content. Some have lobbed the vile charge of “grooming” at the Florida law’s critics, Disney included.

In response, the culture warriors want the government to rescind all policies that economically privilege Disney. Laura Ingraham insists that for woke companies such as Disney, “everything will be on the table” if Republicans take power.

In case this argument wasn’t clear enough, Arizona right-wing Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the keynote speaker at the Colorado Republican Party’s big “Centennial Dinner” later this week, recently Tweeted out an image of Disney’s logo with a Soviet Union-style twist.

During a press briefing at the White House on Monday, this issue came up through a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded with a question of her own that left Doocy speechless:

DOOCY: So, if you guys oppose this legislation that bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in K through 3, does the White House support that kind of classroom instruction BEFORE kindergarten?

PSAKI: Do you have examples of schools in Florida that are teaching kindergarteners about sex education?

Doocy could not answer this question because there aren’t any examples of public schools teaching sex education to kindergarteners. Schools don’t teach kids about sex education in grades K-3, just like they weren’t ever teaching K-3 students about Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl has talked often about how much she was inspired by the 2021 gubernatorial campaign of Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia, particularly with how Youngkin used CRT as a bogeyman to scare parents into supporting his platform. The CRT thing isn’t really working here in Colorado, however, so Ganahl was eager to grab onto the next big lie about woke schools.

Listen to what Ganahl said on The Dan Caplis Show late last week when prompted to talk about sex education in Colorado schools and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis:

 

GANAHL: Oh, geez, Dan, I have a list running of I think about 44 different things that are just disgusting and terrible that he’s led the path for in Colorado, whether it’s the abortion bill or teaching our kids sex ed in kindergarten…

“Teaching our kids sex ed in kindergarten.”

HEIDI GANAHL IS MAKING THIS UP!!!

Polis isn’t responsible for sex education being taught to kindergarteners in Colorado BECAUSE IT DOESN’T HAPPEN. Schools don’t do this for a lot of different reasons, including one that is very obvious: It would be functionally ridiculous to teach kids about sex education (or CRT) when they just learning the alphabet and how to color between the lines on worksheets.

One of the things that made Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law so ridiculous is that students in grades K-3 aren’t being taught sex education anyway:

The Florida Department of Education told PolitiFact that sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in the curriculum taught in the state’s kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.

Similar nonsense claims in Colorado were debunked in 2019 when the state legislature passed a bill that included changes to sex education curriculums. It is up to individual school districts to decide how and when to incorporate sex education into the curriculum, but schools are not required by state law to even discuss the subject. Colorado does require that sex education must be age-appropriate, so what Ganahl is describing couldn’t happen anyway.

There are plenty of real issues that can, and should, be discussed in the 2022 race for Governor, but Heidi Ganahl would rather just make things up instead.

Comments

9 thoughts on “Heidi Ganahl Straight Up Lies About Sex Education

  1. Lies or not Democrats have to answer the moral panic that is happening. Yes Republicans fomented it but now its believed by a good number of scared people. 

    Worth a mention that in fear people turn to idiots with guns and bad ideas. Why Lori Saine thinks she could be the next member of Congress. 

    1. "in fear people turn to idiots with guns and bad ideas"

      Absolutely true. I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law although I think Murphy was an optimist.

      Next January, I fully expect the Colorado congressional delegation to include Bimbobert, Lori Saine, Dave Williams, and Buck.

      And Buck will be what passes for the new "moderate."

      1. That forecast I disagree with. I do think that Buck will be viewed as a moderate and likely be forced out of the Republican party as they further self-destruct.

    2. Agreed, JID. Failure to do so is why Dems have lost 20 points on education in the last few years. The GOP has successfully undermined the notion that public education is a public good.

      The counterargument might just be that public school educators saved the economy in 2020 by pivoting to online education. Public schools are as important as public roads.

      1. I also agree, but would argue that the GOP is attempting to change the perception of public education from one being a societal "good" to actually now being considered a societal "bad".  They are quite literally rebranding public education as an institution that is staffed by individuals who are attempting to undermine parents, molest children, and instill communism in young minds. The worst part is, they are having quite a bit of success.

        And yes, Democrats need to respond.

        1. That is a good point Thorntonite. There is always a long-term underlying shitty goal with these type of smear campaigns. The GOP are masters at creating bullshit narratives like this and demonizing people and institutions in order to manipulate their base. Pretty much the only thing they're good for.

  2. I'm waiting for the complaints about how it's all the fault of "The Squad" and Progressives in the Democratic Party because they are giving the Republicans an excuse to talk about sex education for kindergartners.

  3. Pre-K to 2nd graders “sex education” is limited to teaching kids that they have boundaries and the right to keep them.

    Prepared Graduates: 6. Apply knowledge and skills that promote healthy, violence-free relationships. Preschool Learning and Development Expectation: 2. Identify the importance of respecting the personal space and boundaries of self and others. Indicators of Progress By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may: a. Begin to understand the importance of personal space. b. Explain the importance of personal space in the classroom and around others. c. Explain that each person has the right to tell others not to touch his or her body. d. Identify “appropriate” and “inappropriate” touches. e. Identify characteristics of a trusted adult. f. Seek out a parent or trusted adult for support in resolving an unwanted action or feeling they have experienced.

    The rest of the pre-K-2 health standards have to do with basic hygiene, hand-washing, food groups, and similar topics. Nothing any parent should object to. Ms. Ganahl probably knows all this – the Comprehensive Health standards on the CDE website are pretty easy to find. So yeah, she’s just lying about it to create some buzz. 

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