The number of New Jersey students claiming to be “nonbinary” has increased by over 4,200 percent in four years, according to figures released by the state’s Department of Education.
The number of students in pre-kindergarten through senior year claiming to be “nonbinary” increased from 16 to 675 from 2019 to 2022, according to the data.
Eight of those children are in preschool.
“In the 2019–2020 school year, of those 16 nonbinary students, 10 were in high school. The youngest was in second grade, state records show,” the Epoch Times reports. “In the 2020–2021 school year, there were 85 nonbinary students; the two youngest two were in pre-kindergarten classes. By the 2021–2022 school year, that number had soared to 376 nonbinary students, with eight in pre-kindergarten.”
During the 2022–2023 school year, 41 students claiming to be “nonbinary” were in 5th grade or below.
“Almost every culture of which we have any record has taught girls to be women and boys to be men,” child development psychologist Leonard Sax told the outlet. “We don’t do that. Instead, we undermine that. And the results are not good. And we’re seeing an explosion in anxiety and depression among American kids.”
Sax explained that if children are taught that being transgender or nonbinary is normal, they will assume it really is.
“Kids are not born knowing what normal is, and they need to be taught,” he said. “It’s not hardwired.”
The child development psychologist believes that if schools are teaching that gender is “fluid,” more kids will start to believe that they are transgender or nonbinary — and they will be more anxious and depressed because of it.
“Problematizing gender identity is child abuse,” he said. “It’s causing kids to be uncertain where they should be constant. And it clearly leads to a greatly increased risk of anxiety and depression.”