Pride Month and Parental Rights: Helping Families Navigate School Activities
True inclusion means respecting every family's values.
Dear Friends of FAIR,
June is Pride Month, and across the country, schools are planning assemblies, classroom activities, and student events tied to LGBTQ+ advocacy and identity politics. For many families, this raises a question that schools rarely address or answer clearly: Does my child have to participate?
The answer is no — and we want to make sure parents know this.
FAIR supports genuine inclusion for every student, including LGBTQ+ students. Every child deserves to be treated with dignity and to feel safe at school. At the same time, we believe that families hold the right to make decisions about values, identity, and belief systems for their own children. Students should never be pressured, penalized, or socially shamed for declining to participate in ideologically driven school activities.
These are principles we hold consistently, whether the activism comes from the left or the right.
This month, many schools will go beyond inclusion and cross into advocacy by asking students to affirm particular beliefs about gender, sexuality, and identity as part of classroom instruction or school-sponsored events. Some of these activities may implicate parental rights, free exercise protections, and students’ First Amendment right not to speak. When schools make participation mandatory or create social pressure that amounts to compelled affirmation, they risk violating the very civil rights principles they claim to uphold.
FAIR’s Pride Month Letter Template gives parents a practical, ready-to-use tool to protect their children’s rights, respectfully and effectively.
The letter helps parents:
Request that their child be excused from mandatory participation in Pride-related school activities
Invoke parental rights, student free speech protections, and the First Amendment principle that students cannot be compelled to affirm beliefs they don’t hold
Open a respectful, documented dialogue with school administrators
The letter is free to download, editable, and grounded in constitutional principles that apply regardless of where your family stands on these issues.
We want to be clear about what we are not doing.
We are not asking schools to ignore or demean LGBTQ+ students. We are not asking anyone to be unkind or disrespectful to their classmates or teachers.
We are asking schools to respect the full range of students and families they serve, including those whose religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds, or family values lead them to approach these issues and questions differently.
Schools should be places where every child can learn and grow, without being required to adopt any particular political or ideological identity. Every family deserves the tools to hold schools to that standard.
True inclusion means protecting every student’s right to be treated with dignity. It also means protecting every family’s right to guide their own children.
Producing and expanding these resources takes real support. Your donation helps us develop toolkits for parents navigating ideologically charged school environments and provide legal support to families whose children face retaliation for opting out of activities and events.
Download the template letter and donate today to help us keep these resources free and accessible.
With gratitude,
Monica Harris
Executive Director, FAIR
The War on Words: A Conversation with Nadine Strossen
From college campuses to corporate boardrooms to the chambers of Congress, the pressure to restrict speech is intensifying, and it’s coming from every direction. Nadine Strossen and Greg Lukianoff have heard every argument for censorship, and they take each one apart in their new book, The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech―And Why They Fail.
Join Fair For All’s Executive Director Monica Harris on Thursday June 11th, 4pm PT / 7pm ET, for a conversation with Strossen, a member of FAIR’s Board of Advisors and former ACLU president, as they dissect the case for censorship and what it will take to defend free expression in an era that is increasingly hostile to it.
This webinar will be livestreamed on FAIR’s X, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Zoom.
FAIR in Conversation is Back!
FAIR in Conversation has relaunched with a new monthly format built for this moment. We’re leaning away from books and into the issues themselves: the debates, decisions, and developments that are defining what fairness, free speech, and equal dignity mean in America, and beyond, right now.
Each session will center on a pressing topic of the day, drawing on a curated mix of articles, book summaries, short essays, podcasts, films, and other multimedia resources to ground the conversation before opening the floor for discussion.
Sessions will be virtual, open to all FAIR members, and designed to be as accessible as they are substantive. You don’t need to have read anything in advance. Just bring your curiosity, your willingness to listen, and your commitment to engage in good faith.
These are exactly the conversations America needs now, and we are committed to modeling them. Sessions will run monthly through September 23rd. We hope you’ll join us!
FAIR Educators Alliance 2025-2026
Join the FAIR Educators Alliance for the 2025–2026 school year to equip PK–12 educators with the knowledge, strategies, and community support they need to foster schools that are more enriching and free from bias for students and educators.
Each monthly gathering will open with updates and presentations from FAIR staff, fellows, Chapter Leaders, and occasional guest speakers. Together, we’ll explore strategies to support educators, communities, and local chapters—and to advance positive change at the local, regional, and national levels.
Following the presentations, participants will have space for open-forum discussions to connect, seek advice, and coordinate on pressing issues in their schools. Breakout rooms will be divided into PK-6 and 7-12 grade levels with experienced teachers facilitating those conversations.
Meetings: First Thursday of each month at 7 PM ET via Zoom Duration: 1 hour
Note to readers: We have paused the FAIR News podcast. If you prefer listening, rather than reading these newsletters, an audio version is available directly on the Substack app. Thank you for tuning in!
Thank you for this feedback. While it is the case that some schools begin summer break in late May, many districts end their school year in mid-June. Since Pride begins June 1, these activities are still relevant for them.
While I find Pride month annoying and totally agree that there should be no school activities to celebrate it ....aren't most kids on summer break in June?