A Planned Parenthood affiliate in Pennsylvania received $630,000 of federal COVID-19 relief money to put on events like “queer prom” and run LGBTQ+ after school clubs that provide a “confidential space” for children as young as 10 to discuss sexuality, documents show.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education issued a Pandemic Response Job Training and Education Programs Grant titled “Welcome and Safe: Strengthening the Rainbow Room’s LGBTQ+ Programming,” to Planned Parenthood Keystone, allocating $630,000 of COVID-19 relief funds for the funding of LGBTQ+ youth programs centered around sexuality and transgenderism in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The Rainbow Room and Roy G. Biv are LGBTQ+ youth programs for minors and young adults run by Planned Parenthood Keystone that provide “free, confidential & empowering spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and friends” and “inclusive education,” according to the Rainbow Room’s social media account.
Funding for the grant came directly from the American Rescue Plan Act, according to grant agreement, which specifies the allotted funds were intended to “respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impacts.” Grantees were required to maintain records of how the funds responded to these negative economic impacts.
The grant agreement did not specify what negative economic impacts the Rainbow Room experienced due to the pandemic, but it did note the Rainbow Room had a “400% increase in program participation over the past five years.”
Planned Parenthood Keystone did not respond to the DCNF’s request for clarification on what negative COVID-19 impacts on the Rainbow Rooms LGBTQ+ youth programming the grant addressed. The Pennsylvania Department of Education did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment or questions about the exact requirements for the job training grant.
The Rainbow Room runs LGBTQ+ youth clubs for minors and young adults ages 14-21. Their social media accounts reveal they’ve hosted events featuring performances from drag queens, celebrated queer sex and masturbation and host a monthly “Queer Youth” support group.
They’ve also hosted an educator from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Gender and Sexuality Clinic who spoke on “transition issues for trans kids” and pediatric sex-change interventions offered by the clinic, according to a social media post.
Planned Parenthood Keystone’s website states that clearances are required for all Rainbow Room employees and volunteers, but it’s unclear if any background checks are required for participants ages 18-21. Planned Parenthood Keystone did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for further clarity on the background requirements for college-aged participants.
Screenshot of a grant issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Education titled “Welcome and Safe: Strengthening the Rainbow Room’s LGBTQ+ Programming,” that was obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The grant allocated $325,606 of funding for Planned Parenthood staff, paying 57% of the salary of Rainbow Room Director Marlene Pray, and fully funding the hiring of a community health educator, whose duties include planning and implementing “all LGBTQ+ youth programing [sic] in Bucks County.”
Staff were allotted a 3% yearly salary increase and $92,904 worth of additional “fringe” benefits, according to the grant application. The grant also allocated $53,835 for program materials, $23,599 for start up costs and $82,823 for events, which includes their annual “Queer Prom.”
Democrat Pennsylvania State Sen. Steve Santarsiero defended the Rainbow Room’s 2022 “Queer Prom” when it garnered national attention for featuring a drag queen performance and handing out condoms, lubricant and tarot cards to attendees who were as young as 13. Santarsiero, a long time supporter of the Rainbow Room, helped Planned Parenthood Keystone obtain the funding and told the public the $630,000 grant came from “state funds” during an October 2022 press conference.
The grant allowed the Rainbow Room to expand to a second location in April 2023 and provides free Uber rides from local public schools to LGBTQ+ youth club thanks to a $13,500 “mini-grant” from Bucks County Government, which was funded by a statewide opioid settlement.
Santarsiero and Bucks County Government did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
We’re live in Doylestown announcing a $630,000 grant for the Rainbow Room to support the Doylestown location and open a second location in Lower Bucks County. pic.twitter.com/QjtwBrOFCt
— Steve Santarsiero (@SenSantarsiero) October 21, 2022
The grant also pays 11% of the salary of Amber Brown, Planned Parenthood Keystone director of education, who founded and helps facilitate a sister LGBTQ+ youth program called The Spectrum, that meets at Reading High School in Reading, Pennsylvania.
The Reading School District partnered with Planned Parenthood Keystone in March 2022, when the school board voted to approve a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) agreement outlining that Planned Parenthood Keystone would provide comprehensive sexual education for high school students that was “inclusive of all gender identities” and run the after school LGBTQ+ club for students and young adults ages 14-21. Planned Parenthood endorses and teaches Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) — a type of sexual education that teaches children as young as 5 to accept transgenderism and gender ideology as normal parts of human sexuality.
Planned Parenthood Keystone offers cross-sex hormone therapy to patients 18 and over, according to its website.
LGBT Club For 10 Year Olds
The COVID-19 relief funded grant also allowed Planned Parenthood Keystone to expand its LGBTQ+ youth programming to include a “Rainbow Room Junior” program for children ages 10-14 called Roy G. Biv which provides “medically accurate, social and racial justice inclusive sexuality education” and was needed as “there is no set age for recognizing one’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” according to the grant agreement.
“Many young people know they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual or straight at a younger age than one might expect — even in elementary schools,” states the grant agreement.
A social media account reveals the activities of the Roy G. Biv program have included teaching kids how to express themselves through “gender affirming” clothing, learning about queer sexual identities and holding a “binder drive” to help provide children with chest binders- a garment that compresses a woman’s breasts to make her appear masculine.
The group also held a fundraiser to raise money to purchase binders and tucking underwear for “trans youth.” Tucking underwear is a garment worn by gender confused individuals that “tucks” a man’s penis and testicles into a pocket, minimizing its appearance.
The Rainbow Room is hosting a summer camp for kids ages 10-14, called Camp MEE, that is described as an “inclusive and affirming space for gender expansive youth,” where volunteers and staff are “trained on how to properly uses pronouns & respect gender expansive youth,” according to the event registration page.
The Cass Review, a report on pediatric gender medicine published in 2024 by England’s National Health Service, found there was “no clear evidence” that socially transitioning children, which the report defines as “social changes to live as a different gender such as altering hair or clothing, name change, and/or use of different pronouns,” has any “positive or negative mental health outcomes.” However, the report found that children who socially transitioned were more likely to “proceed to a medical pathway.”
“The systematic review showed no clear evidence that social transition in childhood has any positive or negative mental health outcomes, and relatively weak evidence for any effect in adolescence,” states the Cass Review. “However, those who had socially transitioned at an earlier age and/or prior to being seen in clinic were more likely to proceed to a medical pathway.”
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