Metro East Sun

GOP activist Jennifer Korte is spreading the word on pending legislation critics are calling the “groomer bill.”

The bill would require sexual education for all Illinois children, including information on alternative lifestyles.

“ISBE, wasn’t present at last nights committee meeting to answer questions about HB 5188. Mandates all public schools align with Nat’l Sex education standards. Complete witness slip or call Senator Ram Villivalam (D) 8th District (217) 782-5500 #twill @AmyJacobson @anniefreyshow," Korte, who ran for state representative in 2022, posted on Twitter.

Awake Illinois also flagged the bill, sharing a one-pager describing its effects.

“No later than July 1, 2023, public schools must provide age and developmentally appropriate consent education from kindergarten through 12th grades,” the summary reads.

"These courses must incorporate and align with the 'National Sex Education Standards' published by the Future of Sex Education. These standards call for:

"2nd graders to be able to define consent, define gender identity and
stereotypes, define reproduction, and identify different types of families, including cohabitating and same gender.

"5th graders to be able to describe the potential role of hormone blockers on young people who identify as transgender, distinguish between 'sex assigned at birth and gender identity,' define and explain differences between cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender identity, explain that gender expression and identity exist along a spectrum.

"8th graders to be able to define sexual identity and explain a range of identities related to sexual orientation (e.g., heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, asexual, pansexual); they should also be able to define vaginal, oral, and anal sex; describe pregnancy options, including abortion.

"All pregnant young people to have decision-making power in their reproductive health decisions.

"The use of a student's self-selected pronouns."

They also specify that no one, other than the individual, is "qualified to label or judge another person's sexual identity, including their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Awake Illinois was the group that deemed the legislation the “groomer bill.”

“Groomer Bill #5188 arrived with no warning into IL Sen Exec Committee late last night. Some dems are scared — not wanting to be known as exploiters of child innocence perhaps? This would make national sex Ed standards REQ to graduate. Developing…” Awake Illinois said on Twitter.

The legislation comes over a year after Democrats passed mandatory sexual education individual school districts were able to opt out of.

In 2021, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a new sex education bill into law, SB 818, requiring all K-12 public schools in the state to align their sexual education curriculum with the National Sex Education Standards (NSES). The bill, which was implemented last August, sparked concern among some parents that their children were being taught gender identity ideology under the guise of sexual health.

Those standards were created by The Future of Sex Education Initiative (FoSE), an organization that endorses the notion that “not only are younger children able to discuss sexuality-related issues but that the early grades may, in fact, be the best time to introduce topics related to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, gender equality, and social justice related to the LGBTQ community before hetero- and cisnormative values and assumptions become more deeply ingrained and less mutable.”