Erin Friday, a California mom and leader within the parent advocacy group Our Duty, sat down with the Daily Signal to explain how she rescued her daughter from transgenderism.
Erin said that her daughter was introduced to transgender ideology in a sex-ed class in seventh grade. The students were taught that they could have “a female body with a male brain.”
“The seed was planted after that class,” she said. “And in fact, all of her friends, there were five, sat in my front yard saying what their new labels were.” She also said she was “alarmed by the language that they were using, including ‘pansexual,’ which is not a term that 11-year-olds should know.”
A third party came to the school to teach sex-ed to the middle schoolers. Erin attended one of their classes where they provided handouts with lists of different gender identities and taught the lie that gender is a spectrum.
Thanks to the introduction of these ideas in school, Erin’s daughter believed she was “pansexual,” then “lesbian,” and then “transgender.” At the same time, her daughter’s mental health plummeted severely as she suffered from depression.
During the pandemic, Erin found out about her daughter’s new gender identity because her school began referring to her with male names and pronouns without Erin’s permission.
Soon, Erin began taking decisive steps to rescue her from transgenderism. Anime and social media played a big role in her daughter’s confusion, as they do for so many children. The first thing Erin did, which she believes was key to saving her daughter, was to take away her phone. “A lot of parents will say they can’t do that. You can, and you must if you want to get your child out of this.”
Another important step was getting her daughter away “from the people who thought she was transgender.” She put her daughter in a new private school with new friends and taught her the truth about who she was as a female.
As a parent, Erin said, “you have to be strong enough, your love for your child has to be strong enough, to take their vitriol.” After about a year and a half, Erin’s daughter reidentified with her biological gender and now has a strong relationship with her mother.
Erin’s story is not uncommon. In fact, it’s becoming more and more prevalent.
Parents need to be keenly aware of what is going on in their children’s school, especially if they are being taught sex-ed. Parents should get involved, get to know the teachers, ask questions, and encourage their children to talk about their school day. Finally, parents have to be willing to be disliked by their children, at least temporarily. Removing their access to social media and other negative influences will be difficult, but it is absolutely necessary. If parents don’t remain vigilant, take action, and teach their children the truth, schools and secular culture will lead them down a path of confusion and delusion.
