A Planned Parenthood regional office partnered with a Pennsylvania school district to provide gender ideology infused sexual education and run an after school LGBTQ+ program where students and young adults, ages 14 to 21, paint naked “transgender” bodies, participate in Condom Olympics, and play queer jeopardy — all with full approval from the school board.
The Reading School District partnered with Planned Parenthood Keystone in March 2022, when the school board voted to approve a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) agreement outlining that Planned Parenthood Keystone would provide sex education for high school students that was “inclusive of all gender identities” and helps students understand gender identity in “open, non-stigmatizing ways” and run and after school LGBTQ+ club for students and young adults ages 14-21.
Planned Parenthood, which calls itself the largest provider of sexual education in America, develops and implements Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) — a type of sexual education that teaches students as young as 5 to accept transgenderism and gender ideology as normal parts of human sexuality. Elected school boards across the country have voted to implement Planned Parenthood Comprehensive Sexual Education including districts in Virginia, Texas, Idaho, and Pennsylvania.
The Reading School District School Board approved additional agreements in August 2022 and June 2023 that expanded Planned Parenthood Keystone Comprehensive Sex Education programming to middle schoolers at not cost to the district. The MOU agreements state that Planned Parenthood Keystone would provide opt-out forms for parents who did not want their children to attend the programming.
This was not the first time Planned Parenthood tried to get involved in the Reading School District. In May 2017, Planned Parenthood wanted to open a medical clinic at Reading High School that would receive funding through the Pennsylvania Department of Health and provide counseling, sexual education and referrals for other services. The controversial proposal was rejected by the Reading School District school board in August 2017 after community pushback. Planned Parenthood successfully implemented a similar program in California and has been given millions of tax dollars to run health clinics in Los Angeles public schools.
On its website, Los Angeles County called the clinics a “welcoming place” for students: “The Centers offer services to educate students for lifelong protective practices and promote social/emotional well-being, youth leadership, and sexual health. These spaces are youth-friendly and provide students with a safe, welcoming place where they will find caring adults, supportive peers, and integrated services.”
Planned Parenthood, whose election PAC endorsed Reading School District Board President Noahleen Betts during her 2019 election, plans to expand its involvement in Pennsylvania school board elections, the Delaware Valley Journal reported earlier in January. Signe Espinoza, executive director of Planned Parenthood PA Advocates, told the Delaware Valley Journal that the political action committee associated with her organization “endorses candidates who are committed to protecting and expanding access to sexual and reproductive health care. Whether we endorse candidates running for school board or a State House seat, our goal is to ensure that we are working to elect sexual and reproductive health care advocates up and down the ballot.”
The Reading School District School Board declined to comment. Planned Parenthood Keystone did not respond to multiple requests from the DCNF for comment.
Planned Parenthood Strong-Armed Feds To Force Its Own Sex Ed Curriculum On Schools Across America
Over the past decade, Planned Parenthood affiliates have received millions of federal dollars to create, study and implement CSE through the federal Teen Pregnancy Prevention program (TPPP), which was established by the Obama administration in 2010 and run through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Obama administration diverted funding from abstinence-only sex education and funneled it to organizations such as Planned Parenthood, who provide CSE.
The Trump administration attempted to completely cut funding to the TPPP in 2017, ending already administered grants two years earlier than expected. Several organizations, including Planned Parenthood, filed lawsuits against HHS, calling the cuts unlawful.
“Today, nine local government, health care, and oversight organizations filed four lawsuits in federal courts in Washington, Maryland, and the District of Columbia challenging the Trump-Pence administration for unlawfully ending the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) grant agreements,” Planned Parenthood wrote in a statement published in February 2018.
“The lawsuits ask that the funding for the program be reinstated to serve the 1.2 million young people that would benefit from the program.”
Several judges, including then U.S. District Court judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, swiftly ruled against the Trump administration, compelling HHS to continue funding the program. In April 2018, the Trump administration announced new rules for the TPPP grants with an emphasis on funding abstinence-based sexual education, rather than “evidence-based” sexual education programs that met criteria established by the Obama administration.
In June 2018, Planned Parenthood again sued the Trump administration, calling abstinence only sexual education “dangerous” curriculums which “ignore the needs of LGBTQ teens.”
“The lawsuit seeks to protect the future of the TPP program. If successful, the lawsuit will ensure that the TPP program maintains its evidence-based principles and that new grantees are not forced to push dangerous [abstinence-only until marriage] curriculums,” Planned Parenthood stated on its website.
The lawsuit was initially dismissed, however, Planned Parenthood filed and won a partial victory on appeal with the help of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro who, as Pennsylvania attorney general at the time, led a coalition of 21 states in filing an amicus brief in support of Planned Parenthood.
During the most recent round of TPPP grants Planned Parenthood affiliates were given $7,029,840 in annual funding from the federal government, totaling $35,149,200 over the grant’s 5 year duration.
For example, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts was awarded one million dollars of annual funding to implement their “Get Real” CSE curriculum in schools and evaluate its effectiveness. The Massachusetts Family Institute has reviewed the Get Real curriculum, which costs as much as $1599 to purchase, and describes it on their website as “problematic” for it’s explicit sexual content aimed at children as young as 11.
“PP’s 6th-grade curriculum (students as young as 11 years old) teaches children how to enthusiastically consent to sexual activity, promotes solo and mutual masturbation, directs teachers to lead children through inappropriate sexual role-playing scenarios, and more,” states their website.
Planned Parenthood did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
The Spectrum
In addition to providing the Reading School District with Comprehensive Sex Education, the MOU agreement with Planned Parenthood outlined they would facilitate an LGBTQ+ sex ed after school club called “The Spectrum.” The agreement describes The Spectrum as “a blend of education, recreation, and advocacy in a safe, supportive and empowering environment for LGBTQ+ youth” and outlines club discussion topics that would include LGBTQ+ history and culture, gender identity, and LGBTQ+ reproductive health. On its website, Planned Parenthood Keystone states it merged with Reading High schools’ established Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club in October 2022 to form the new program.
The MOU agreement with the Reading School District states The Spectrum meetings were held at the Planned Parenthood location in Reading during the school summer break, a Planned Parenthood clinic that provides “Gender-Affirming Services,” which includes hormone therapy, surgery referrals, and legal and social transition support, according to its website. (RELATED: Planned Parenthood’s Trans Hormone Business Is Booming, Creating Thousands Of New Patients ‘For Life’)
Posts from The Spectrum’s social media accounts reveal students and adult participants ages 14-21 were encouraged to get “comfortable” with their sexuality at meetings while learning about topics such as preferred pronoun use, what it means to be nonbinary and how to turn a condemn into a dental dam, which is used for oral sex. Other social media posts highlighted club activities that included queer Jeopardy, painting naked “trans” bodies, and celebrating transgender day of visibility.
Emails obtained through a public records request show Johnathan Rodriguez-Baez, Planned Parenthood Keystone’s Bilingual Outreach & Education Coordinator, was working directly with the LGBTQ+ clubs advisor Reading School District art teacher, Zoe DeHart, to create programing for the LGBTQ+ club. Rodriguez-Baez sent DeHart several graphics for the club which included an image of a “Bi Sexual Umbrella” that stated definitions of the different ways to be bisexual and a “Spectrum Loyalty Card” with spaces to indicate the number of times a student attended the club. Rodriguez-Baez also sent a guide with ideas for LGBTQ+ club activities, such as Gay Jeopardy and an animated game called “The Ratchelor,” which is described in an email as a “Dating sim that’s modeled after ‘The Bachelor,’ except it’s rats.” In the game, the player is a rat laying on a couch who, one by one, interacts with other rats in a quest to find true love.
In a September 2024 email, DeHart questioned if she would continue to receive a monetary stipend for participating in the Spectrum after receiving an email from a school administrator stating the ESSERS Funding, a federal program that provided schools emergency funding for Covid related expenses, which had been used “to pay teachers to support these programs” was no longer available. An October 23, 2024, school board meeting shows DeHart was given a stipend for facilitating the Spectrum LGBTQ+ club. The Reading School District would not confirm the exact amount of the stipend.
Rodriguez-Baez and DeHart did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
LGBTQ+ Youth Program Guide
As an appendix to the March 2022 MOU agreement, Planned Parenthood Keystone provided the Reading School District with a document titled “LGBTQ+ Youth Program Guide,” which details the inner workings of the LGBTQ+ youth sexuality clubs, and notes students can attend without parental consent.
All attendees of the LGBTQ+ Youth Programs are asked to adhere to a strict confidentiality policy which prohibits all photography and video recording and discussing the club programming outside of the meeting, according to the document.
“Everything that is said here stays here. Don’t ‘out’ anyone outside of the program,” the ground rules state.
Randall Wenger, chief counsel at the Independence Law Center at PA Family Institute, raised concerns about the lack of transparency for parents surrounding the LGBTQ+ youth club.
“We encourage the district to prioritize empowering parents and focus on fostering an educational environment that values transparency, accountability, and parental involvement,” Wenger said. “Schools should be places where parents and educators work together to support students.”
The MOU approved in March 2022 noted that Planned Parenthood Keystone staff were required to obtain child abuse clearances and criminal background checks but did not clarify whether Spectrum attendees ages 18 to 21 needed similar clearances to participate. The Planned Parenthood Keystone volunteer application notes that a criminal history “does not exclude candidates from obtaining a volunteer position with Planned Parenthood Keystone.”
The program guide notes all sexual activity between participants, staff, and adult volunteers is strictly prohibited and a section in the ground rules titled “Be Appropriate” specifically reminds participants that sexual contact with a teenager is illegal and subject to mandatory reporting requirements. “Participants range in age from 14-21 and as such, your personal conduct must be appropriate,” the document states. “We are required to report abuse, including statutory sexual assault. Having sexual contact with a teenager under the age of 16 is illegal if you are more than 3 years older than they are.”
The Reading School District and Planned Parenthood Keystone have not responded to the DCNF’s requests for further clarity on the background requirements for college-aged participants.
PPKeystone is proud of our three LGBTQ+ youth programs: The Rainbow Room, Spectrum, and the Curve! pic.twitter.com/kkavX18VF6
— Planned Parenthood Keystone (@PPKeystone) November 8, 2018
The Rainbow Room
In addition to the Spectrum, Planned Parenthood Keystone runs the The Rainbow Room, a sister LGBTQ+ youth program in Pennsylvania which hosts LGTBQ+ youth clubs at two locations in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb.
Similar to the Spectrum, the Rainbow Room hosts meetings for minors centered around sexuality and transgenderism. Posts from the Rainbow Room’s social media accounts reveal they’ve hosted events featuring performances from drag queens, celebrated queer sex and masturbation and hosted an educator from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Gender and Sexuality Clinic on supporting pediatric sex-change interventions.
“We are thrilled to have an outreach educator from CHOP’s Gender Clinic as our featured speaker to share about gender diversity, transition issues for trans kids, about what the Gender Clinic provides, & to answer questions,” the Rainbow Room posted on social media,
The Rainbow Room hosts LGBTQ+ youth clubs in two locations for minors and young adults ages 14-21 and also runs a “Rainbow Room Junior” program for children ages 10-14. On its website, Planned Parenthood Keystone describes the Rainbow Room as a place where youth can “come as you are.”
“The Rainbow Room is a place where you can come as you are. No judgment. No pressure. We believe that the ability to live our lives with pride, free from violence and discrimination is just basic. That’s why we’re open to people of all gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations.”
Thank you to The Rainbow Room for hosting last night’s Trans Day of Remembrance & Resilience Vigil in Doylestown, and to all of the youth who participated and spoke! pic.twitter.com/Mr3g6gK7fR
— Steve Santarsiero (@SenSantarsiero) November 17, 2022
The LGBTQ+ youth program has close ties to local politicians and has been able to expand their services thanks to Democrat Pennsylvania state Senator Steve Santarsiero who secured $630,000 in state funding for the Rainbow Room in October 2022.
At a press conference announcing the funding, Santarsiero praised the LGBTQ+ youth club stating “The Rainbow Room saves lives” and touted their 2022 “Queer Prom,” which garnered national attention for featuring a drag queen performance and handing out condoms, lubricant, and tarot cards to attendees who were as young as 13.
Santarsiero, who attended and sponsored the 2020 Queer Prom, defended the annual event in a statement at the time: “In any event, I am not aware of any parent of the students who attended the 2022 Queer Prom […], who objected to any aspect of it, either beforehand or afterward. That would include the much-decried swag bags, which included, among other things, condoms, ‘lube,’ and, perhaps most scandalous for some, information about Planned Parenthood.”
At the end of December, the Rainbow Room announced it would provide free uber rides from local public schools to the LGBTQ+ club after receiving a $13,500 grant from Bucks County Government dedicated to “services and transportation to Lower Bucks Rainbow Room.”
Bucks County Government and Santarsiero did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Charlotte Cooper
