Fake News: Sunny Oaks Elementary
On May 19th of 2016, an uncredible website known as The Free Patriot published an article covering Sunny Oaks Elementary School of California. In this article regarding the elementary school, it was reported the school made students “crossdress” in honor of LGBT week. After a quick read, this article seems truly shady. Surely it would be unlawfully unjust to force kids to dress as the opposite gender if they were opposed to the idea. If a reader is sincerely intrigued by the absurdity of an article, there are numerous ways to check the integrity of the article.
Upon searching among other sources for the issue, I quickly found additional information on the topic at Snopes.com. When I visited Snopes and found the research regarding Sunny Oaks Elementary School, I came to find there was no such thing as a Sunny Oaks Elementary School in California. Instead, this was just a made-up story with the intent to provide propaganda and divide the opinions of Americans. In fact, Snopes reports “ A reverse image search for the appended photograph of “Sunny Oaks Elementary” led primarily to pages about other fake news items that were utilizing the same image”.
Mandatory cross-dressing has never been in effect at any school in the United States. In fact, there have never been any cases recorded involving schools implicating a mandatory cross-gender clothing day. States across the United States often push for anti-cross dressing laws in schools. Virginia even tried to pass a law banning the cross-dressing of students in school. School dress codes in the state of Florida allow kids to dress whatever gender they personally want to, as this is recognized as a right in Florida. Dress codes in the state of Florida cannot reach as far as passing a mandatory cross-dress statute. As I stated earlier, Snopes even detected the fake image of “Sunny Oaks Elementary School” an earlier fake news story from 2013.
Fake news is an upcoming danger to our society. If those hiding behind walls spreading fake news are not condemned, our nationwide fountain of truth is tainted. We cannot have a functioning judicial system with lies mixed into facts. The United States was built upon freedom and the right to a fair trial, yet we as a nation constantly contradict and condemn ourselves. We will never reach a fair conclusion so long as we have lost the skill to tell truth from facts.
Works cited
Laprica, Kim Sunny Oaks Elementary Forces Kids to Cross Dress for LGBT Week https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sunny-oaks-elementary-forces-kids-to-cross-dress-for-lgbt-week/
