Dominican Republic families demonstrate against gender ideology in education

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Jul 9, 2019 / 01:58 pm (CNA).- Families in the Dominican Republic joined together July 4 for a national civic demonstration to protest a new Department of Education norm that establishes policies based on gender ideology.

The demonstration, held simultaneously at 10:00 a.m. in Santo Domingo and Santiago, was called by the “Don’t Mess with My Children” movement to demand the repeal of departmental order 33-2019, approved May 22, 2019.

The new Department of Education norm “establishes as a priority the design and implementation of gender policy” in “the different levels, systems and subsystems in Pre-University Education, in their planes, programs, projects, teaching strategies and administrative activities.”

In a news release addressed to the media, organizers said that thousands attended the demonstrations, including families, schools, parents’ associations and Christian institutions who wanted “to warn about the systematic and organized penetration of gender ideology in the Dominican Republic.”

They charged that “this current has permeated many of the government’s institutions, where they hold talks with titles of tolerance, equality and inclusion that look very attractive, but deep down are loaded with gender ideology.”

“Clear evidence is the Department of Education’s manifesto with the initiative they launched to achieve a perspective on gender in teaching,” they said.

The news release noted that “the term gender was first defined by the Department with the announcement of OD33-2019 as a social construct different than sex, which is the philosophical premise of gender ideology.”

They also called for the repeal of the norm, saying that it has “the clear intention of initiating pre-university students in gender ideology indoctrination.”

Bishop Víctor Masalles of Baní voiced on Twitter his “complete support for the civic demonstration by parents concerned that their children not be indoctrinated in a background of gender ideology.”

“A valid concern that we must support,” he said July 4.

On May 28, the Dominican Bishops’ Conference released a statement opposing the Education Department’s new norm.

“We consider it noxious that the gender policy is included in the design of the curriculum,” they said.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.