A survey by the Oregon Health Authority this year asked children as young as sixth grade about their sexual preferences and whether they consider themselves trans or nonbinary.
The survey, which was voluntary and anonymous, according to the health authority, asked questions about disability, race and ethnicity, among others.
But, the Washington Examiner noted, the survey also asked students about their sexual orientation and gender identity. The survey was given to students as young as 11 years old who are in sixth grade.
Options for sexual orientation included "asexual or aromantic" and "pansexual." For gender identity, options included "nonbinary," "genderfluid," "agender" or "demigirl/demiboy."
Ian Prior of the conservative America First Legal told the Examiner the surveys are "completely inappropriate for school-aged children" and serve as "further evidence that schools are pushing a dangerous agenda on children that can have irreversible damage."
Prior said that providing opt-outs for parents is no longer enough. "There needs to be a full effort to investigate these efforts at the federal and state level and put a stop to this clear attempt to indoctrinate young children and interfere with their parents' rights to guide the upbringing of their children."
Oregon says it uses "an active parental notification/passive parental permission model" in which parents are notified of the survey and can return a signed form to the school if they don't want their child to participate, the Daily Mail reported.
But Prior told the Examiner that's not enough. Parents' "inboxes are already flooded with emails from their school systems on bus delays, districtwide announcements, and other information," he said.
One Twitter user quoted by the Daily Mail said a friend told her, "The school district sent out a consent form asking parents if their children could take this but failed to tell us what was on it. I had a feeling it was this so I refused. They handed out prizes for kids that took it. I (redacted) hate this state."