Resist Gender Education

Resist Gender Education is a New Zealand alliance of citizens, teachers, parents and grandparents. The group says it supports age-appropriate, factually accurate relationship and sexuality education, but opposes lessons on gender identity in schools, which it regards as indoctrination.

What you will find

The site is intended for parents and teachers. It contains frequently asked questions, pages on puberty blockers, social transition and the Cass Review, a step-by-step guide for schools, information on the rights of parents and teachers, a guide for parents, sample letters and testimonials. The group also has a Substack.

Why it is on this list

The group is a campaign organisation with a clear agenda, not a neutral source of information. The term gender ideology, which the site uses frequently, is itself part of the debate. The site shows how the debate about gender and education is being conducted in New Zealand; see also society.

Founding and organisation

According to its own Substack, Resist Gender Education was founded in 2021. The group says it operates entirely with volunteers and donations from supporters, and receives no funding from organisations or government agencies. The names of its directors are not listed on the homepage. The alliance states that people from the rainbow community are also members. In addition to opposing lessons on gender identity, the group advocates for parents’ right to be consulted about the content of lessons and to withdraw their child from them. The site also features a presentation that parents can use to raise the issue with a school.

The 2020 guidelines and what followed

The campaign focused mainly on the guide to relationship and sexuality education published by New Zealand’s Ministry of Education in 2020. In March 2025, Education Minister Erica Stanford withdrew the guide, and it was removed from the ministry’s website. Schools were advised to follow the 2007 health curriculum for the time being. A new framework was published in April 2025; it no longer explicitly mentions gender identity. Consultation on the new curriculum ran until January 2026. Resist Gender Education gave the proposal its highest rating. In its response, the group called for a single national workbook for all schools and for parents’ right to keep their child out of the lessons to be retained. The situation in the country itself is described under gender care in New Zealand, while a similar debate in the neighbouring country is covered in the report on Australian teaching materials that remove sex from sexuality education.

How to assess this source

The site documents a campaign that has achieved a large part of its objective, making it interesting as a snapshot of its time as well. The pages on puberty blockers and social transition are summaries written by non-medical professionals to persuade parents. Use them as a guide to the underlying reports, not as medical advice. For comparisons with other countries, policy by country is a better starting point, while parents’ questions are addressed on the page for young people.