Earlier this month another dubious milestone was reached in the state of Washington, already home to many such distinctions. We learned that beginning in the fall of next year, kindergarten students being sent off to school for the first time will be learning about more than the A,B, C’s and which juice box to select before nap time. Teachers will begin instructing the five year olds on the ins and outs of gender identity… just in case they didn’t have enough to be confused about already. (Daily Caller)

By fall 2017 Washington state public schools will begin teaching gender expression to kindergarteners under newly-approved health education learning standards that designate sexual health a “core idea” of public K-12 education. While some aspects of sexual health aren’t taught K-12 (HIV prevention begins in fourth grade), one component of sexual health titled “Self-Identity” begins in kindergarten, where students will be expected to “Understand there are many ways to express gender.” The state’s health education glossary defines gender as “A social construct based on emotional, behavioral, and cultural characteristics attached to a person’s assigned biological sex.” Gender expression, meanwhile, is defined as “The way someone outwardly expresses their gender.” These definitions differ from the state’s definition of “biological sex”: “Based on chromosomes, hormones, and internal and external anatomy.”

Before going any further, allow me a moment to offer some advice for all the parents in the Evergreen State as well as young couples considering procreating. Get out. Pack your things and rent a U-Haul or whatever it takes. Flee the state. There is nothing left worth fighting for there and you should really strike out and find a job somewhere sane.

As to how to “fix” Washington state at this point… you’ve got me. As I’ve said here repeatedly, what adults do with their own lives and their own bodies is up to them, providing they aren’t infringing on the rights or privacy of others. Gender dysphoria seems to be a serious situation to me, but it’s not fatal (directly) and people have to be responsible for their own choices. But when you begin involving children, the state should really be stepping in to protect them rather than abetting the situation. The worst cases are parents who have convinced their own children that they are of a different gender than biology proves they are and enlist doctors to pump them full of chemicals and hormones to delay the onset of puberty. These are people who should be in jail. But it’s also a serious matter when five year old toddlers who know no better begin having their heads filled with confusing information and pseudo-science before they’ve even gotten a chance to get their legs steady beneath them.

Childhood is confusing enough and setting off on the path to adulthood is a road with many pitfalls awaiting you. Having the state engage in this sort of destructive behavior should be criminal, but it’s now treated as the new normal. This idea probably works wonderfully to indoctrinate a new generation of Democratic voters, but the damage they may potentially leave in their wake is a tragedy in the making.