(AgapePress) - A school district in California is facing a federal lawsuit after representatives from Planned Parenthood were brought in to address a health class without parental notice.

School administrators at Arcata High School invited guest speakers from Planned Parenthood to address the freshman class. The topic to be covered was sexual education -- but more specifically, "homophobia" and homosexuality.

Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says what took place during the class amounted to religious-based harassment.

"Planned Parenthood put all the kids in a circle and then they would ask them questions. If they answered the questions correctly, the children got to leave the circle and watch and look and stare at the quote-unquote ‘intolerant’ kids inside the circle," Dacus says.

"Inside the circle, the final question asked of the children was, ‘Do you have religious beliefs that ... homosexuality is a sin and therefore wrong?’ There was [sic] three girls who were left in the middle of the circle feeling very demeaned, very put down."

Dacus says such exercises are all too common in California schools. "These kinds of programs are becoming the norm, not the exception," he says. "They’re becoming much more the rule, and that is why it’s so important to protect our children from this kind of stigmatizing trauma that’s taking place against Christian kids with Christian family backgrounds."

Dacus says the exercise violated both state and federal law when it was performed without prior written parental consent. The parents of at least one Christian student are considering legal action against the school district.

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