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LGBTQ Youth Group Hosts Pride Carnival For Kids, Prohibits Parents From Attending

BARBIE Float at WeHo Pride Parade

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Reagan Reese Contributor
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An organization focused on supporting LGBTQ youth is holding a pride carnival on Wednesday for individuals ages 12-20, with no parents allowed, according to the group’s website.

The Indiana Youth Group, an organization for LGBTQ people ages 12-24, is partnering with Indy Pride, a group that works to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues, to hold a “youth carnival” while attendees’ parents participate in activities “off side” or “explore the city,” according to the Indiana Youth Group website. The carnival, which is open to 200 LGBTQ youth attendees, aims to be a place for the LGBTQ youth to “celebrate Pride month with their peers in a safe space,” the organization wrote. (RELATED: Largest Teachers Union Backs LGBTQ Group That Encourages Hiding Student Gender Changes)

“Parents are invited to participate in alternative activities, as we do not allow parents on site for safety concerns,” a Indiana Youth Group spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Each and every staff member and volunteer at IYG [Indiana Youth Group] has to undergo thorough criminal background checks with the state and Department of Child Services, as well as intensive training in cultural competency, safety, and crisis intervention. To allow unvetted adults in our center would put youth at risk. The general sociopolitical climate of the US is also inhospitable and hostile to LGBTQ+ children.”

The event will feature carnival food, face painting, games, t-shirt tie dying, a resource fair and a DJ, the Indiana Youth Group website stated. Parents of attendees are encouraged to go to the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church for separate programming.

In April, the Indiana Youth Group held its annual conference for LGBTQ kids ages 12-19, the organization website stated. The workshop for the LGBTQ youth featured guest speakers, workshops, discussion groups and symposiums.

Across the nation, parents are fighting to have a say in their child’s education. Maryland parents protested a school board in March that refused to give them the opportunity to opt their children out of lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Several school district’s across the country have implemented policies that keep student’s gender transitions a secret from their parents; eight of the nation’s 20 largest school districts, in total together enrolling about 2.5 million students, do not notify parents when students change their pronouns and names on school documents. Outside of the eight major school districts, 13 school systems mandate parental permission for over-the-counter medicine but not for a student to make a change to their pronouns and name at school.

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