The Missouri Department of Mental Health will no longer ask students in one school district to answer questions about their sexuality and gender identity following parent outrage surrounding a survey given to sixth graders.
KMOV reports sixth graders at Bourbon Middle School, which is part of the Crawford R-1 School District, were given the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Missouri Student Survey during school. Among the questions on the survey were questions about whether the children identify as straight or gay and whether they believe they “feel” different from how their “body is,” thus making them transgender.
Shane Burns said, “It's inappropriate subject matter for sixth graders to be answering questions on themselves."
Courtney West said it was “just perverted” to ask 11-year-olds about their sexuality.
Bourbon High School & Middle School principal Brian Witt wrote letter to parents saying that once he was made aware of the controversial questions regarding sexuality, he asked the Missouri Department of Mental Health to remove those questions in the future. According to Witt, the department obliged.
Witt also apologized to parents who may have been upset my content and said that in the future, the school will “request to review any future survey.”