$205M ‘Science’ Group Pushing Gender Ideology and Local weather Activism in Colleges
A congressionally chartered scientific organization dating back to Abraham Lincoln is funneling millions of your tax dollars into radical gender ideology and climate activism aimed at America’s children, according to a conservative parents group now demanding a congressional investigation.
The American Parents Coalition sent a letter to Congress Wednesday, reported by The Federalist, exposing what it calls the corruption of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a supposedly independent advisory body that receives $205 million annually in government funding. The organization, which claims to provide “independent, trustworthy advice” on STEM issues, has “transformed itself into a platform for pushing radical political agendas into K-12 classrooms across America,” according to APC Executive Director Alleigh Marre.
Marre, who served as national spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services during the first Trump administration, founded the APC specifically to follow the money behind school curricula. What her organization found should alarm every parent in America.
The letter details how NASEM has hosted workshops with the American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization that supports transgender surgery for minors. One 2023 workshop titled “Supporting the Health and Well-Being of Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth” advised schools to use children’s preferred pronouns and affirm a child’s gender confusion, even when parents object.
“They are supposed to be setting objective evidence-based standards that improve the STEM capabilities of the next generation of students, and instead of that, we’re seeing them continue to embed more and more ideology into their work,” Marre told The Federalist.
The problems extend far beyond gender ideology. Last year, NASEM released a report titled “Equity in K-12 STEM Education: Framing Decisions for the Future” that the APC says frames “the entire U.S. educational system as a mechanism of systemic oppression” and teaches children “that STEM’s primary purpose is social justice.”
“In what world does that fit into improving the next generation’s STEM abilities?” Marre said. “It doesn’t.”
NASEM also funds organizations pushing climate activism on children. One recipient, EcoRise, creates lesson plans for K-12 students on “discovering how they can help dismantle and counteract damage caused by systemic racism.” The organization teaches students that “harming the environment is an example of unkind behavior and that people of color are disproportionately impacted by environmental problems.”
Another NASEM beneficiary, the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation, “explicitly recruits kids into climate advocacy campaigns,” according to the letter. NASEM also awarded Birmingham-Southern College $1.25 million to develop curriculum “focused on environmental justice and climate change.”
The organization traces its roots to 1863, when President Lincoln established it as a policy advisor on science and technology issues. Today it claims to deliver advice “guided by the highest standards of integrity, objectivity, and scientific rigor.” But the APC believes the reality no longer matches the rhetoric.
“These institutional entities you kind of just expect them to do what they say they’re going to do,” Marre said. “Have we gotten lost in the comfort of a brand and a name that we’ve known forever? It seems like with NASEM, we have certainly gotten complacent in the funding that we’re providing.”
The APC believes NASEM’s activities may not just be dishonest but potentially illegal. The parents group is urging Congress to investigate how taxpayer dollars intended for legitimate scientific advisory work ended up funding radical classroom indoctrination.