Teacher Ejected From Israeli Educators WA Group For Rejecting LGBTQ Materials For Kindergartens

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Sara Yiscah Sar-Shalom, a kindergarten teacher in Israel, described on Arutz Sheva what had transpired when she expressed a position on the issue of LGBTQ families.

Sarah was a member of a WhatsApp group made up of female kindergarten teachers from all over the country . The group’s stated goal was to transfer information, opinions and discourse of kindergarten teachers from all over Israel, facilitating internal discussions concerning the education of the children.

“Before Family Day, the group only came up with materials and lighthearted stories that pertain to LGBTQ and single-parent families,” said Sar-Shalom, noting that the essential messages behind the materials were all the normalization of life in homes where the parents are of the same sex. She likewise mentioned that in her opinion, there is no reason to raise the issue with kindergarten students.

“I responded with a surprised smiley and asked why teach this content when there are other values ​​that pertain to Family Day,” she says and describes the aggressive and non-inclusive responses she received. Later in the conversation, she wrote that, according to the texts sent in the group, there is no longer any room to tell the children familiar stories in which the parents are a man and a woman, including, of course, Bible stories.

Then a private message arrived from the group’s manager, who warned Sar-Shalom that if she didn’t stop speaking out, she would be removed from the group. Sar-Shalom argued that as an educator it would be correct to at least open the issue for discussion, and it is unfair in her opinion that the only materials passed on in the group are LGBTQ-encouraging materials which do not allow for other opinions.

After a short discussion, the manager of the group removed Sar-Shalom, but what happened next surprised her as well.

“It was amazing to see that afterwards private messages were sent to me from kindergarten teachers who told me what they were experiencing and supported me. These are not religious or kindergarten teachers from communities in Judea and Samaria, but also teachers from Tel Aviv who support my opinion. I asked them why they don’t write anything in the group, and it turned out that they are afraid to express their opinion. One said that an LGBTQ flag was hung in her classroom and she objected, but the kindergarten manager decided that this is what should happen. There is complete silencing here of any other opinion, even though it is that of the majority of the public.”