Pre-K teacher wants to talk to students about 'queerness,' calls 'childhood innocence' a 'myth'

An early childhood educator and pre-K teacher in California recently went dark on social media after news reports began to circulate that he had advocated teaching "queerness" to children as young as 3.

Over the weekend, a report from Fox News claimed that William "Willy" Villalpando had posted several disturbing messages on social media. Under the user name "mrwilly_prek," Villalpando allegedly called "childhood innocence" is a "myth" and insisted that "gender is fluid."

"There is a common mythology that children live in this world of pure innocence, and that by introducing or exposing them to the real-world adults are somehow shattering this illusion for them," Villalpando reportedly wrote in an Instagram post in 2020. "Therefore, there is a banning of topics and issues that children should not be exposed to, as if they are not experiencing them already."

In separate post, Villalpando added, "I'm tired of the ‘Childhood Innocence’ argument… Stop blaming a phenomenon that doesn't exist."

Villalpando — who teaches an early childhood development class at Santa Ana College in southern California — also apparently alleged that babies as young as 3 or 4 months old "show a sex and gender preference in who they look at" and that by age 3, kids "can label their perceived gender identity."

Villalpando also allegedly suggested that teachers who avoid discussing gender and "queerness" with kindergarteners and preschoolers are simply foisting those "uncomfortable" conversations onto other colleagues.

"[C]hildren have a right to see themselves in our classrooms," Villalpando reportedly said. "It's not okay to just forget about them or push them out just because it might make us uncomfortable or may make others uncomfortable."

According to Fox News, Villalpando also claimed that "gender is fluid" and a "social construct"; that white, heterosexual, "cis"gendered Christians are largely responsible for misconceptions of gender and sexuality in general; and that "not talking about Queerness in the Classroom, is NOT Letting Children be Children. It's Telling Those people They Do Not Deserve to Exist."

Last November, Villalpando appeared on an episode of the "Rainbow Parenting" podcast to discuss "the good and the bad facing queer and trans educators today." The website associated with the podcast is queerkidstuff.com, and the social media accounts affiliated with the podcast use the handle @queerkidstuff as well.

Fox News confirmed that, in addition to his position at Santa Ana College, Villalpando worked as a pre-K teacher in the Rialto Unified School District from 2016 until at least June 2021, when California teacher records were last updated. The outlet also attempted to contact Villalpando by sending an email to his district email address, and the email was not "returned to sender."

Villalpando had indicated on his Instagram profile that he was a pre-K teacher. However, all of the social media accounts ostensibly tied to Villalpando "went dark" after Fox News Digital reached out to him for comment, the outlet said.

Rancho Santiago Community College District, which governs Santa Ana College, issued a statement, claiming that it does "not condone any form of attack on 'childhood innocence.'" It also added, "Our RSCCD community college courses in Child Development and Education Studies do not address nor teach gender studies."

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