To the editor:

In a letter to the editor published on 11/5/21, a local group of activists reacted to another writer’s views on “people of faith” being “forced to affirm and celebrate LGBTQ ideology” in our public schools. In their response, they focused on the fact that it is not the role of our government or its schools to teach any particular religion’s moral values. In this they are correct.

At the same time, however, they appear to be defending the practice of affirming and celebrating LGBTQ ideology in a public school setting. They imply that that students who have declared themselves to be lesbian, gay, or any of the other letters have special legal rights in our schools.

While it is true that our state’s laws do provide protection from discrimination in certain areas (employment, housing, home loans, etc.), LGBTQ activists and their allies are seeking to expand the boundaries of their “rights” in our schools beyond what is covered by current law.

Legally speaking, no student has the right to be affirmed or celebrated in any aspect of his or her life. No student has the right to expect or demand that others refer to him or her by whatever pronoun he or she may choose. No student has the right to have others recognize him or her as being any sex other than his or her biological sex. No student has the right to expect that social studies or history will be taught through the lens of his or her group’s view of reality. No student has the right to expect or demand that other students will accept his or her lifestyle as good and normal.

To demand this of other students would be to deprive them of their right to freedom of thought and speech. To yield to such demands would take us one step closer to accepting a distorted view of reality as being valid and true, and would place our children and our schools under the power of those who embrace that false reality.

This expansion of LGBTQ “rights” is part of the “affirming and celebrating of LGBTQ ideology” to which the earlier writer objected. It is indeed a red flag, and we must oppose it to preserve our own liberty and our own rights.

Michael Thom

New Ulm