Teacher Defends LGBTQ Lesson Plan that was Spiked by State

A teacher whose LGBTQ lesson plan for kindergartners was removed from a state website said Friday that the governor and education department succumbed to outside pressure.

The governor and department "caved to pressure instead of standing up for some of the most vulnerable people, families, and students in Maine," Kailina Mills wrote in a social media post.

The lesson plan was at the heart of a Republican attack ad that accused Democratic Gov. Janet Mills of spending $2.8 million to create "radical school lessons" aimed at kindergartners.

On the video, the teacher discusses "Freedom Holidays" like the Fourth of July, Juneteenth and Women's Equality Day before discussing freedoms won by the LGBTQ community including same-sex marriage. She talks about sexual identities under the umbrella of "LGBT+" in the discussion.

The governor previously said she agreed with the Department of Education's review that concluded the lesson wasn't age appropriate.

Kailina Mills disagreed with that assessment, citing a study that showed gender identities are solidified between ages 5 and 7.

She wrote Friday that she's taught pre-schoolers who are transgender and non-binary and said "those children and those families deserve to be represented in their school curriculum."

The video was produced for an online resource hub created early in the pandemic to allow teachers to share lesson plans.