Parents slam charter school for outing their nonbinary six-year-old twins after discovering secret online hate campaign

North Carolina parents have criticized a charter school for dating their nonbinary six-year-old twins after discovering an online hate campaign.

Mortellus, 42, who did not want to reveal their full identities, said they didn’t think there was a problem when they first toured the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in Forest City, North Carolina, with their husband, Joe.

During the visit, Mortellus – who is transgender and non-binary – asked if there were gender neutral bathrooms. The pair told staff that their children are non-binary and one child is gender fluid.

The couple said they were confident that while the school is still in the process of adding an ADA-compliant family bathroom, there are already some toilets in each classroom.

But about a month later, Mortellus discovered that their children’s gender identity had been leaked to the parents. Many of them began to speak out against the school that enrolled their children.

“When I saw it all… I sat there quietly for a moment, feeling like my stomach was on the floor,” they told Buzzfeed.

‘I felt sick. I felt sad. I fought with myself about what the right response was… but chose anger.

“They all put my children at risk, and the school had done nothing to notify us.”

Mortellus, an author who describes herself on Instagram as a “witch, necromancer, mortician and medium,” said they found the school accommodating when they first went through the charter school.

They also asked about school uniforms and how the children are sorted.

“I noticed that my children, regardless of assigned gender, enjoyed wearing skirts and dresses on a regular basis – and I was told that the uniform policy was not gendered and that it would not be a problem,” Mortellus wrote.

‘I asked if the students were sorted by gender – boys line up here, girls there – and said one of my twins was quite fluid with pronouns, flitting back and forth as they pleased and only recently had a preference got.’

Again, Mortellus said, they were told the uniforms were not gender specific — with one employee reportedly telling them they were “already feeling very protective.”

Mortellus said they also asked about school uniforms and how children are sorted at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy

But when Mortellus joined a Facebook group to find discarded uniforms, they said they found groups where parents complained about a non-binary student coming to the school and what they saw as a push for gender-neutral bathrooms.

Some also circulated an online petition The school is being called on to reverse its position on allowing gender-neutral toilets and requiring teachers and students to ‘use pronouns’. It received 1,300 signatures before being removed. according to WSPA.

One of the groups was even founded by someone who identified himself as a school staff member, Mortellus claimed.

The issue eventually became so heated that school officials held a meeting in May for parents to voice their concerns.

Mortellus said her children are non-binary, and one is gender fluid

One speaker at that hearing accused the family of living “in a world of imagination.”

“They don’t understand the concept of sex until they’re eight or nine years old,” the parent claimed, WSPA reported.

Another argued, “If we can’t push religion… they shouldn’t be able to push an agenda,” and a third even said he would pull his children out of school “if this continues.”

Only one speaker at the hearing was in favor of including gender-neutral bathrooms and allowing the twins to join the student population.

“According to the TJCA handbook… every student has the right to an environment that promotes learning and is free from destruction,” the community member said.

Mortellus is an author who describes himself online as a ‘witch, necromancer, undertaker and medium’

Mortellus now tries to reconsider these claims.

“There has been an assumption that I walked around the school like a cartoon villain shouting ‘HERE ARE MY DEMANDS’ – but that’s not true at all,” the author told Buzzfeed.

‘I toured the school, chatting casually with the staff, hoping to ensure that my children would receive a good education, nothing more than what school policy already allowed, and the same amount of support and protection that other children at school receive .’

They pointed out that no rules or policies have changed at the school, and that kindergarten students “already have gender neutral bathrooms and always have.”

Mortellus said one of their children wants to be an astronaut, while the other is a math geek

Mortellus then responded to some specific claims about their family, including that the children are “too young” to understand gender.

“In terms of simple child development, we know that children have a pretty strong sense of gender identity as early as age three,” they claimed.

‘Society isn’t really concerned about heteronormative barriers being ‘understood’ by children because that fits within the hegemony – but when it’s an outsider group like my pagan family with a different idea of ​​morality, ethics and the world in the general, suddenly that concept is corrupted,” they said.

Mortellus also argued that those who oppose sending their children to school are “trying to protect Christian ideas about gender and sexuality, and we don’t share those beliefs… we’re not Christian.”

“Our faith protects the right to express ourselves as we see fit – not as dictated to us by someone else’s god.”

School officials said they followed “all applicable state and federal laws.” Pictured: Lisa Strepp, director of the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy

“This is as simple as letting kids just… be,” Mortellus said, noting that one of her children wants to grow up to be an astronaut, while the other is a math geek “who is literally doing algebra at the age of five.”

“The most joyful thing in the world for me is to look at one of those kids and know that they are living their best life and getting to discover who they are,” they said.

“So few people get that opportunity and I’m so glad they do.”

In a statement to WSPA, school officials noted that the school “follows all applicable state and federal laws.”

A spokesperson noted that facilities already have bathrooms with one shower stall for students who choose to use them, while other facilities have gender bathrooms with multiple stalls.

It also advised that the school let parents decide whether they want their child to be included in a particular curriculum, saying: “Instruction about gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality should not be included in the curriculum offered in kindergarten through and with fourth grade, regardless of whether the information is provided by school personnel or by third parties.”

DailyMail.com has contacted the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy for additional comment.