Even more egregious is that students are offered a $20 e-gift card for participating in the survey. PDE’s report notes that the email urges recipients not to mention the survey on social media or to other people.

Please do not post anything about this online, especially on social media. We have learned that bots and bad actors specifically target queer research efforts to sabotage the work and/or take the financial incentive. We have several data quality/safety measures built in, but I’d like to do everything we can to ensure that real and eligible humans are participating.

The survey asks a series of intrusive questions related to gender identity and “gender-affirming care.” These include:

I know where to find good information about gender affirming care.

My gender affirming care provider respects who I am.

I have had to teach my healthcare providers about gender affirming care.

I know/knew how to navigate the transition into adult gender affirming care.

I have experienced microaggressions, discrimination, or hostility from my parents/caregivers about my gender identity.

I think that my primary healthcare provider has talked or might talk to my parents/caregivers about my gender without my permission.

My parents/caregivers accept my gender identity.

I worry that I might regret taking gender affirming hormones.

My parents/caregivers are (or were) worried about or afraid of me receiving gender affirming care.

PDE’s report does not indicate whether Tacoma Public Schools actually distributed the survey. However, its policies suggest that the district is on board with the agenda. Its policy page explains that “Public school records should use the student’s requested name, pronoun, and gender designation unless there is a legal reason not to do so.” It also mandates that schools “must allow students to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.” The same holds true for locker rooms.

Additionally, the district’s policy indicates that schools “must allow all students to participate in physical education and athletics that correspond to their gender identity.”

Given the “confidential” nature of the survey, it is unlikely that the district would have notified parents if they sent it to students, which would be yet another way these people are pushing an insidious agenda behind parents’ backs.

The fact that the survey explicitly asked about parents’ attitudes toward gender identity seems to suggest that they are subtly driving a wedge between parents and their children in what appears to be an effort to usurp parental rights. Indeed, parents who disapprove of the notion that their child should change their gender are often cited as a reason for keeping them in the dark.

This is an egregious intrusion on parental rights and privacy rights. No government institution should be allowed to broach these topics with children without the knowledge and consent of their parents. Yet, so many school districts across that country are doing this very thing, believing they will not be held accountable. In too many cases, they are right; they will not face consequences.

PDE’s report further highlights why it is critical that people are educated about what schools are trying to do to children who suffer from gender dysphoria. The more people who find out about this, the more people who might be willing to fight against it. When it comes to the effort to trans children, ignorance is the progressive’s best ally.