{"id":1431244,"date":"2022-04-11T13:44:46","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T17:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1431244"},"modified":"2022-04-11T13:44:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T17:44:58","slug":"do-conservative-religious-families-have-to-just-shut-up-and-take-it-father-denied-religious-exemption-for-young-sons-gender-ideology-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/do-conservative-religious-families-have-to-just-shut-up-and-take-it-father-denied-religious-exemption-for-young-sons-gender-ideology-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Do Conservative Religious Families Have To Just Shut Up And Take It\u2019?: Father Denied Religious Exemption For Young Son\u2019s Gender Ideology Assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">44<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdo-conservative-religious-families-have-to-just-shut-up-and-take-it-father-denied-religious-exemption-for-young-sons-gender-ideology-assignment%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1431244&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Boston Public Schools denied a religious exemption to a father requesting that his 11-year-old son be exempt from a gender ideology assignment, emails obtained by The Daily Wire show.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Ruka\u2019s son Brody is a fifth-grader in the Boston Public School system, where he was given an assignment on the short story \u201cThe Gender Reveal,\u201d the father told The Daily Wire. The short story is included in the book \u201cBlack Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood,\u201d and tells the tale of a 13 year old who comes out as nonbinary.<\/p>\n<p>Ruka, the host of the <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/right-and-wrong\/id1612508344\">political podcast Right &#038; Wrong<\/a>, told the school system in a March 15 email that he could not find the full story when he attempted to preview it for his son, and could only see the section for which students were assigned questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m troubled that an assignment like this was so casually dropped into the curriculum without any regard for the religious and moral beliefs of the families in this class,\u201d he said in an email provided to The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>Ruka, who said he has been a security officer with the City of Boston for the past eight years but is currently out with an injury, also called the assignment an \u201cinsulting violation\u201d of his family\u2019s religious rights, objecting to the school teaching what he called radical political ideology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy child is at school to be taught truth and reality,\u201d he wrote. \u201cYou are setting these children up to ignore basic fundamental\u00a0genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boston Public Schools did not address requests for comment from The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>Grace Jung, the director of training and accommodations in the school system\u2019s Office of Equity, told Ruka in a March 22 email that the Office of Equity had reviewed his concerns and \u201cdetermined that this curriculum is not considered to be sexual health education, and that it is age-appropriate and consistent with district policies and goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jung then denied Ruka\u2019s request to opt his son out of the short story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven that there may be discussions of all types of identities (e.g. race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation) consistent with the district\u2019s policies and the core values of the Kenny Elementary School, the Office of Equity cannot reasonably grant an accommodation that would exempt your child from participating in discussions or assignments that include references to gender identity and\/or sexual orientation,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_366174\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-366174\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Email obtained by The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>In a March 25 email, Assistant Superintendent of Equity\u00a0Becky Shuster told Ruka that the story discussed in his child\u2019s class is \u201cnot characterized as sexual health education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a fellow BPS parent, I appreciate your desire to frame what your child is learning in school consistent with your family\u2019s beliefs and values,\u00a0and I am glad we had the opportunity to discuss some strategies for you to do so going forward,\u201d said Schuster, though she noted that she had explained to Ruka what types of religious accommodations \u201care possible for BPS students and families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ruka told The Daily Wire that he wishes to shine more light on the incident because he doesn\u2019t think parents realize the radical nature of the content being taught in the Boston Public School System.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShame on her, and shame on this committee for determining what is age-appropriate for my child,\u201d Ruka said of Jung in a March 23 school board meeting.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p>\u201cMy child is a statistic to you,\u201d he told the board. \u201cYour job is to teach our children how to read and write. How to add and subtract. It\u2019s not to indoctrinate children into a radical, progressive world view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told that this topic is considered the same as race and religion,\u201d he continued. \u201cHow would the committee react if this story was about a 13-year-old that suddenly found Jesus Christ? How about a child that was excited to attend the March for Life? I suspect you would hear more of a backlash. Do conservative religious families have to just shut up and take it because we are in the minority? Where is the equity for us? Where is our inclusion?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ruka also pushed the school system to address a list of questions, including when gender identity was added to the Boston Public Schools curriculum, in what grade such lessons begin, whether teachers are trained on how to present and discuss such matters before introducing it via a lesson, what makes sexual identity and sexual orientation different than sex education, and whether gender identity is taught as a belief or as a definitive statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy wife and I have raised our children to be kind, and loving,\u201d Ruka wrote in his March 15 email to the school system. \u201cWe would never teach them to be purposely rude or mean to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI pray that the children that do fall into the delusion that they can somehow decide to change their sex get the mental help they so desperately need,\u201d he added. \u201cTrying to mold young minds into believing otherwise goes against the very idea of educating them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The parent told The Daily Wire that his family feels \u201cstuck education-wise, because of the cost of Catholic school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d love to figure out a way to homeschool, but we\u2019re worried about being able to pull it off with work schedules,\u201d he explained, noting that due to his job, he must live in the city of Boston, where rent is expensive.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member now and join our mission.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston Public Schools denied a religious exemption to a father requesting that his 11-year-old son be exempt from a gender ideology assignment, emails obtained by The Daily Wire show.Brian Ruka\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":496,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/496"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}