Out Youth Austin has published multiple videos advising Texas government schools on how to sexualize their libraries and classrooms.
Out Youth Austin has their own channel on YouTube. Recordings there went back years.
Their most recent recording was uploaded in June 2023. In this recording, Mona, a 12-year-old, talked about how everyone at Out Youth Austin was “the awesomest.” The recording flashed Mona’s pronouns: “He/They/Them.”
A September 2021 recording was titled “An Intergenerational Chat Between Bisexual Men.”
Further investigation revealed Out Youth Austin’s (OYA’s) work to advance the LGBT agenda in Texas government schools.
This is a well-funded nonprofit with big dreams for the future.
Texas Scorecard repeatedly asked Out Youth Austin for comment for this series. They chose not to respond.
Influencing Schools
In an April 2016 video, Kathryn Gonzales, the Operations and Programs Director of OYA and the Texas GSA Network, expressed OYA’s support for students to use the bathrooms of their opposite sex.
A September 2021 recording was about how to bring “Pride” week to your school district. It was taught by a former Austin ISD staff member and two employees of the district at the time.
Screenshot from Out Youth Austin September 2021 recording. This was training on how to bring “Pride” to your school district.
This video was 45 minutes of how to institutionalize “Pride Week” in your school district. Even kindergarteners were targeted by this program. “Kindergarteners can certainly participate with pride, but the types of things that are discussed may look different,” Meagan Butler said.
It didn’t stop there. An August 2020 video’s topic was how to fill school libraries with LGBT materials, while a September 2020 one was titled “Queering Your Classroom.”
Diving Into the Financials
Part one of this series examined OYA’s promotion of gender mutilation procedures to minors. Part two looked at their promotion of transgenderism, while part three exposed their work to sexualize minors.
How does Out Youth Austin pay for all of their operations?
In 2015, the nonprofit reported $312,000 in revenues to the IRS, most from grants and contributions. By 2021 these numbers substantially increased. The nonprofit reported more than $1.6 million in revenue, with more than $1.4 million from grants and contributions.
Who are some of their backers? A 2022 IRS filing from the Wells Fargo Foundation reported they donated $7,500 to OYA for its “LGBTQIA+ Young Adult Financial Literacy Series.”
The pro-woke Tides Foundation gave them $10,000 in 2020. Influence Watch called this billion-dollar nonprofit “a major center-left grantmaking organization and a major pass-through funder to numerous left-leaning nonprofits.” The Washington Examiner reported it helped bankroll multiple anti-Israel organizations and operations in 2022. Up to that year, the Tides Foundation had also backed the Black Lives Matter nonprofit organization.
Closer to home, superstore chain H-E-B is one of the sponsors of OYA’s 14th gala, scheduled for November 2024.
OYA has its sights set on more. They announced in a 2023 fundraising campaign pamphlet, they are out to raise $4.4 million. What will they do with this money? They want to “serve” more than 17,000 youth each year by the end of 2026. This includes growing their clinical staff from 11 to 34 and going from 550 to more than 1300 clinical clients per year. OYA also seeks to grow its drop-in sessions from 1,000 to more than 16,000 every year by 2026. “Now is the time to invest in strategic planning and growth to position Out Youth as the primary provider of social and mental services for LGBTQIA+ youth in the greater Austin area,” OYA leadership wrote in the pamphlet.
Leadership
Who runs Out Youth Austin?
Their board includes individuals from four notable organizations. Its chair is Brandon Wollerson of the Dell Medical School. Jarrett Urban is from the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company. Kathy Zarate is from MAYA Consulting, a firm that advises organizations, nonprofits, foundations, and school districts. Alejandro Victoria is from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
OYA’s executive director is Aubrey Wilkerson. He has worked in that position since June 2012. Jaryn Holbrook Janeway, OYA’s operations & programs director, has been with OYA since January 2015. From May 2016 to December 2018, Janeway was director of OYA’s Central Texas Transgender Health Coalition in Austin.
Their staff and board of directors all use pronouns in their biographies.
Harming Children
Despite its heavy sexualization of minors, OYA has positioned itself as “safe.” But Emelie Schmidt, the young lady from southeast Texas who once battled gender dysphoria, cautioned against falling for it. “A lot of these organizations just make gender dysphoria worse. They don’t help the teens in any way,” she said. “They only affirm, and affirming a delusion will only lead to depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. [It] might have short-term happiness, but it will never result in long-term happiness.” Her story and concerns about OYA were covered in part two of this series.
Then there’s Monica Cline, the former sex educator in part three. It’s been years since she worked in sex education. Since then, she’s accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. She has since founded It Takes A Family. Her views on sex education have changed dramatically, and she disagrees with how it is today and the heavy promotion of sexuality to minors.
One of the reasons why is the health risk. “The CDC says it’s a high-risk behavior for minors to have sex. The STDs are higher among, I think, 14 to 24 years old. It’s at epidemic levels,” Cline said. “Many of the STDs are not even treatable now, where they used to be like chlamydia. The chlamydia strains are becoming resistant to the medications.”
This data hasn’t prompted a rethink within present-day sex-ed. “They believe we need more sex-ed, more condoms, more lube. But really they’re encouraging children to be involved in high-risk behaviors that are putting them at risk every day,” Cline said. “It’s becoming normalized just for children through the public school system, through the culture, but it has been normalized among homosexual youth for decades.”
Cline explained this in greater detail. “The comprehensive sex-ed in the homosexual community believe[s] that everyone, including minors, are sexual from birth, and that everyone should have access to information about sex education,” she said. “[They] are going as far as saying that sex education will curb rape or sexual violence.”
This is a burden too great for our children to understand or navigate, and that it is up to the parents to protect children from this ideology.
But then what is the answer? While her work was mostly with women, there was a time when Cline went to discuss sex-ed with minors at an alternative school in East Austin. During this time, she answered a question from a 13-year-old girl. “She admitted that she was involved in a certain sexual activity that made her gag. Her hope was that I would teach her how to do it so that she wouldn’t gag,” Cline recalled. “That just really disturbed me.” Cline decided to reframe the girl’s question. She said to her it seemed like she didn’t really enjoy this activity, and the girl agreed. Cline then decided to address the entire class of minors. “Have y’all ever considered just not doing the sexual activities that you don’t like to do? Just don’t do them,” she said. They responded very well to that. The 13-year-old girl said, “Ma’am, no one’s ever told us that.”
That stirred a change in Cline. Eventually, she left sex education altogether. Now, she goes and educates parents about the dangers of her old profession. “I tell parents the truth of sex education, the truth of what the different activities are doing, how it changes children’s beliefs and values and behaviors, and how it’s creating a wedge between children and their families,” she said.
If you or someone you know has information about Out Youth Austin, we want to hear from you. Please contact us at rmontoya@texasscorecard.com
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