Concerned and outraged parents showed up in droves at a recent Encinitas Union School District (EUSD) board meeting to protest using the district’s “Kinderbuddy program” to teach kids to be accepting of transgenderism and homosexuality without parental knowledge or consent. A video posted to social media on May 8th revealed an LGBTQ book titled “My Shadow is Pink” and an accompanying video were being used to encourage elementary school students in kindergarten to “explore” their gender identity through a coloring exercise.
This issue came to light when a fifth grader came home and told his parents “he was upset about being made to sit through a video presentation of ‘My Shadow Is Pink,’ with a 5-year-old kindergarten buddy,” who he was paired with as part of the school’s “kinderbuddy” mentorship program. The read-along video describes a young boy who observes that his father’s “shadow” is blue, but his own shadow is pink and likes to wear dresses and dance, instead of partaking in usual “blue” activities. The boy laments that his shadow is not blue like his dad’s and brother’s, but chooses to wear a dress on his first day of school anyway.
The book continues to chronicle the boy’s experience as he tries to transform into a girl because his “shadow is pink.” It also describes little girls “whose shadows like girls,” introducing the concept of lesbianism to five-year-olds, possibly for the first time, behind their parents’ backs.
After the students watched the video, they were required to complete a coloring exercise in which they colored their own shadow. At the end of the book, the father tells his son, “It’s not just your shadow, it’s your innermost you.” Thus, the young students are allowed to choose whatever color they want to represent their gender identity, their “innermost you,” irrespective of biological reality.
The boy’s father, Carlos Encinas, was unaware the book was included in the school curriculum at all, and it had been conveniently left out of the weekly recap parents receive from the fifth-grade teacher at the end of every week. Noting his son’s concern about his five-year-old friend who he was required to complete the coloring exercise with, he sent an email to the teacher asking the “how and the why” of this book being taught in the school.
Carlos said the response they received from their son’s teacher was “even more concerning.” The teacher said it was “just an exercise in colors and the buddies are just playing with their shadows and asking what colors their shadows are… It’s not gender identification, [it] has nothing to do with that,” despite the clear fact that this deceptive book is focused solely on the gender identification of a boy who falsely believes he is a girl. The book is even described on its own YouTube page as “a beautifully written rhyming story that touches on the subjects of gender identity, self-acceptance, equality, and diversity.” There’s no getting out of it – this book is about gender identity, and so is the coloring exercise.
“What’s most concerning is the school is using our child to disseminate this information to someone that is clearly looking up to them,” Carlos shared in the video posted to social media by a conservative influencer. “I would encourage every family to start asking questions and start sharing the facts that they have because together we can make a difference.”
Local parents heard Carlos’s message loud and clear – so many showed up to the EUSD board meeting that only half could fit in the room due to fire safety codes. The rest stood outside the meeting and watched via live stream. Not everyone who showed up, however, was interested in defending parental rights. Some gathered to voice their support for the book, and ridicule parents who wanted to shield their children from radical gender ideology.
“As parents we have the right to know what our children are being exposed to, especially when it involves sensitive topics like gender identity,” Encinas said at the board meeting.
The parents in opposition to the book requested the option to opt their children out of any future exercise involving this book or others like it, but they were not given that guarantee at the board meeting. In fact, the district’s position thus far is that parents do not have to be notified of such teachings and even if they are, they can’t opt their children out.
“We the people have the freedom to opt-out. We are going to opt-out as Christians. If you don’t accept our opt-out, we’ll see you in court,” one woman at the meeting boldly declared.
Carlos said the response from the school’s leadership was “nothing short of disappointing. The principal and PTA organized a ‘pink out the hate’ event. … It’s an outright attempt to dismiss the feelings of our children, and intimidate parents who might hold different views. … Our children deserve an education that respects family values and parental rights.”
“Our family has a lifelong commitment to our community and schools and it saddens us to learn that our school district denied our parental rights concerning sexualized content and transgender ideology in the elementary school curriculum,” Carlos continued. “We were not informed beforehand and are very concerned that our child was forced to participate in promoting content that does not align with our child’s faith or our family’s values and religious beliefs. Furthermore, EUSD has denied our request for future notification of such content and the option to opt-out. We are now consulting legal counsel to review our available options.”
“California Family Council stands behind the parents of the Encinitas Union School District who want to protect their children from gender ideology and teachings on sexuality that do not align with Biblical values,” said CFC Vice President Greg Burt. “Schools have no place teaching children they can alter their sex, which has no basis in science and is deeply damaging to young minds. These teachers are sowing seeds of gender and sexual confusion, leaving kids with lifelong scars. ”
