Urgent Request for Help This Coming Monday Evening!
from Laurie Higgins Illinois Family Institute
Many people are familiar with the controversy that has exploded in School District U-46 in the Elgin area over CEO Tony Sanders’ refusal to tell parents that the administration is allowing a gender-dysphoric student to use the locker room designated for the opposite sex.
On Monday, September 12, there is going to be a school board meeting at which Sanders’ decision will be discussed. If meetings in other school districts are any indication, this meeting will be intense, unpleasant, and likely dominated by “progressives,” including “progressive” students.
IFI is asking you to come alongside School District U-46 school board member Jeanette Ward who is paying a heavy price for standing boldly for truth in her district about the new locker room practice and Sanders’ refusal to notify parents. She has endured withering personal attacks at board meetings and vicious personal attacks on multiple Facebook pages for doing what all conservatives should be doing in their local schools but don’t. And while she endures personal attacks from many, very few people come alongside her to defend her and to defend the truths she courageously articulates.
IFI is pleading to seriously consider attending this meeting—even if you don’t have children in U-46 schools and even if you don’t live in the district. I have learned that “progressives” recruit support for their controversial school agendas from all over the state. When East Aurora High School was considering a similar policy several years ago, representatives from two homosexual/“transgender” activist organizations in Chicago and multiple cross-dressing men from other communities attended school board meetings, spoke at them, and even served on a school district committee. We must start doing likewise. There are few things scarier than entering a lion’s den alone. It’s unconscionable to allow Jeanette Ward to do it.
I know from personal experience how difficult it is to stand publicly for truth. When I worked at Deerfield High School and began speaking out in opposition to curricular imbalance and egregiously obscene material, I had English Department colleagues who had been my friends, turn against me. There were people who thanked me for what I was doing and prayed for me—all of which I appreciated—but I also desperately longed for people to come alongside me. There were a few courageous souls who did, and for them I remain to this day deeply thankful. Please be that kind of friend to Jeanette Ward. Don’t allow her to continue to do this almost unbearably hard work in the service of children and truth alone.
I often wonder why we so rarely see priests, pastors, elders, and deacons at these controversial board meetings. Why don’t these faith leaders, whose sanctuaries are filled with children who enter schools where deviance is promoted, do more to protect their children, defend truth, and oppose injustice? Perhaps co-ed locker rooms and restrooms will be the offense that will finally motivate them.
Theologian John Piper writes, “If a Christian brother or sister is weighed down or menaced by some burden or threat, be alert to that and quickly do something to help. Don’t let them be crushed. Don’t let them be destroyed.” I am asking men and women of all ages to come alongside Ms. Ward at this meeting. If possible introduce yourself to her. Consider making a statement or asking board members a question about the reality of sexual differentiation and the importance of modesty, which derives from sexual differentiation. (Comments are limited to 3 minutes, and you must fill out a “request to speak” card upon arrival.)
Take ACTION: The school board meeting begins at 7:00 p.m., but it is likely to be very crowded, so please consider arriving early—at least by 6:00 p.m. The address is 355 East Chicago Street, Elgin, IL 60120.
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