'Openly queer teacher' admits to socially transitioning 3rd grade students

On Sunday, July 17, the popular Twitter account Libs of Tiktok shared a video of an elementary school teacher saying that she indirectly signals to her third grade students about her bisexuality, and criticized her coworkers for "hurting" students for not using their preferred pronouns and chosen names.

"I am an openly queer teacher," the Tiktok user @zombriii94, who goes by Brianna Rose, announced to her 161 followers. "I wear a bi flag watch band and bi flag bracelets," she demonstrates by raising each wrist. "In my classroom I keep a rainbow flag," and adds, "my kids know what it means."

The purple-haired teacher goes on to explain how her being "openly queer" means that her students trust her more. As an example of this trust, she claims that two students approached her to ask if she could use gender neutral "they/them" pronouns when speaking about them, and also asked if she could relay their message to other summer school teachers.

"I said, 'kiddos I would love to do that for you, I’m so glad you trusted me with this information.'" She then revealed that one of the students also asked to go by a different name, "one that is not gendered as what they were born as."

But when she informed the other teachers of the 3rd graders' request to use the students' preferred pronouns and chosen name, she says they scolded her, informing her that it "was not appropriate for me to communicate." The other teachers, she claimed, ignored the students' requests to participate in their social transition by using a new name and pronouns.

The teacher, visibly upset and looking directly at the camera, says, "I don’t care what you believe, but when you refuse to respect a queer child’s request for pronoun and name changes, you are hurting them." It has now become commonplace to hear from gender activists that "misgendering" is a form of violence.

But many therapists believe that socially transitioning young children may actually be harmful, as it can make permanent gender dysphoria that would have otherwise been a transitory phase, setting them down a pathway that often results in blocking puberty, cross-sex hormones, surgeries, and sterility.

Schools transitioning children, often without their parents' knowledge, is becoming increasingly common. Many schools now provide students with individualized "gender support plans" that ask the student to indicate if they would like their parents to be kept in the dark. Some schools even provide "transition closets" so that students can change into clothes that match their "gender identity" at school, and change back before heading home.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, "About three-in-ten parents of K-12 students (29%) say at least one of their children has learned about people who are transgender or nonbinary from a teacher or another adult at their school."

The problem, according to evolutionary biologist Colin Wright, is that "using children’s preferred pronouns and chosen name is not about acceptance of differences, but rather about facilitating a radical ideology that believes whether a child is a boy or girl has nothing to do with their sex, and everything to do with their subjective 'gender identity.'" Wright says that this ideology "can cause children to become convinced they’re transgender when they are simply gender nonconforming."