EXCLUSIVE: What Does It Mean To Be ‘Metagender’ Or ‘Demiromantic’? This School District Is Teaching Kids All About It

An Oregon school district is teaching tenth-grade students a variety of gender identities such as “metagender,” as well as the difference between sexual orientation and “romantic orientation,” according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In a sexual education curriculum for tenth graders, Hillsboro School District, the fourth largest district in Oregon, teaches students that sexual orientation, who you are attracted to physically, and “romantic orientation,” who one is romantically attracted to, are separate from one another and do not need to correlate, according to documents obtained by the DCNF. The curriculum, created by teachers and counselors, teaches students the definitions of “panromantic” and “demiromantic,” as different types of “romantic orientations.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Former Arizona School Counselor Says She Was Advised To Keep Student’s Transgender Status From Parents)

The curriculum defines “panromantic” as someone who is romantically attracted to someone regardless of gender and defines “demiromantic” as when one doesn’t feel romantic attraction “until a close bond is formed.”

The curriculum gives students three examples of how gender identity, sex assigned at birth, gender expression, sexual orientation and romantic orientation can all be different and work together. One example shows an individual named “Cece” who uses she/her pronouns, identifies as a female, has male genitalia, and is both sexually and romantically attracted to men.

Another example shows an individual named “Joey” who uses he/him pronouns, identifies as a male, has male genitalia and is not attracted to men, women or other genders either sexually or romantically. A third example in the curriculum explains an individual named “Casey” who uses they/them pronouns, is intersex, has both a masculine and feminine gender expression, and is not attracted to men, women or other genders, either sexually or romantically.

“Our CSE [Comprehensive Sexuality Education] curriculum was created by teachers and counselors, in collaboration with and adapting resources from the State of Oregon, local community organizations and curriculum publishers,” a Hillsboro School District spokesperson told the DCNF. “You can find a list of the CSE lessons and the Oregon Health Education Standards they meet on our website. Our teachers must teach the standards and are given training and support to do so; however, if they do not feel comfortable or confident in delivering CSE lessons, they can request that other trained staff members do so on their behalf.”

Students are also taught different pronouns aside from “she/her” and “he/him,” including “neutral pronouns” such as “ze/zir” and “they/them,” the curriculum shows. The sexual education curriculum teaches students that they can have gender identities that don’t align with their biological sex including, but not limited to, “metagender,” a person who identifies as neither cisgender nor transgender, and “gender fluid,” which is defined as an identity that varies over time.

Students learn different “romantic orientation” definitions including “biromantic,” which is when one person is romantically attracted to multiple genders, and “aromantic,” which is defined as someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction, the curriculum shows.

In 2015, Oregon enacted “Erin’s Law,” requiring schools to teach age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention programs in K-12 classrooms. The state adopted its Health and Sexuality Education standards in 2016, which mandate that students have the “knowledge and essentials” need to “affirm fundamental aspects of the identities,” according to the Oregon DOE website.

The Hillsboro School District sexual education curriculum also teaches about how oppression leads to “microaggressions,” “implicit bias,” “prejudice” and rape culture, according to documents obtained by the DCNF. The curriculum details the “four I’s of oppression” including “ideological oppression,” “institutional oppression,” “internalized oppression” and “interpersonal oppression.”

Throughout the country, parents, school boards and lawmakers are debating how to address gender identity and sexuality topics in the classroom; a Colorado school district encouraged its physical education teachers to don LGBTQ pride gear in an effort to show their support for the LGBTQ community. In California, a school district unanimously voted in June to adopt a resolution encouraging schools to adopt lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation, just days after parents protested the lessons.

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