Chicago City Wire

Wendy Wynn is one of several critics lining up against mandatory sexual education being pushed in the Illinois General Assembly. 

State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) is the sponsor of SB 818, a bill that served as the precursor to HB 5188. Whereas SB 818 allowed school systems to opt out of SB 818 of which 70 percent did, HB 5188 would mandate all schools statewide to teach the same curriculum. Wynn is the administrator of the Facebook page Standup Opt-Out. Critics opposed to mandatory sexual education in Illinois schools are keeping an eye out for a bill many would say circumvent last year’s law that allowed school districts to opt out. 

“This is the Evil senator who wrote the original Bill SB818," Wynn said of State on Facebook. "He is furious that 70% of school districts in Illinois Opted Out of his Evil plan. So now he has added an amendment to this current bill to make this Evil mandatory. We will continue our fight to protect all children!” 

HB 5188 is seen as a way of mandating the sexual education standards included in SB 818, which was signed into law last year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.  SB 818 law requires children as young as eight to be subjected to lessons on sexual education, according to Effingham Radio. The law was billed as a way to standardize state and federal sexual education standards. 

The Illinois Association of School Boards issued a “call to action” against HB 5188, which has also used bill number SB 2226. The IASB included an appeal to members to contact legislators to express a lack of support. “Previous sex ed bills focused on the content of curriculum while still preserving local control around the decision to offer sex ed to all students. HB 5188 removes that local option and MANDATES the national sex ed curriculum standards for all schools,” IASB said.

Marsha McClary, a strategist, life planner, and mother who lives in Lake County, is one of the many critics lining up against comprehensive mandatory sexual education being pushed in the Illinois House. “Remember Illinois SB818 and how so many of us lobbied your school districts to opt-out?” McClary said on Facebook, Lake County Gazette reported. “It included teaching some very radical and inappropriate topics (see photos posted of the standards & link to full standards also below). Illinois has a new bill on the table House Bill 5188 adding these same radical sex ed standards to all Illinois schools.”