Leaked NEA Packets Outline Workplace Transition Guidance, Pronoun Training and Messaging Strategies Targeting Opponents

Documents posted online by the National Education Association (NEA) and obtained by the transparency group Defending Education describe a series of upcoming trainings for the union’s more than 3 million members. The sessions include "Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice" (Dec. 2–4, 2025) and "Advancing Racial Justice through Union Work" (Jan. 13–15, 2026), and the materials set out goals, tools and recommended messaging for participants.

Training goals and materials

The NEA describes the LGBTQ+ training as intended to help educators understand LGBTQ+ identities and to equip members to support LGBTQ+ students and colleagues. The documents list objectives such as building "common understandings about the identities under the LGBTQ+ community umbrella," mapping the "anti LGBTQ+ policy landscape and how to develop counter narratives of inclusion and equity," and strengthening skills to confront bias, microaggressions and stereotypes.

Defending Education provided two packets labeled a "pre-attendance package" and "participant handouts" for a session described as "Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice and Transgender Advocacy." Those materials include a workplace transition guide sourced from Cornell University titled "Transgender Guide To Transitioning & Gender Affirmation," tools for discussing pronouns, and educational aids such as the "Gender Unicorn," a framework used to explain gender identity and expression beyond the binary.

Practical guidance and contested topics

The Cornell-derived guide offers practical tips for "coming out" at work and for planning a workplace transition, including notifying colleagues and preparing for changes that may follow a transition. The packet devotes space to the use of pronouns and recommends normalizing offering pronouns in introductions as a way to avoid relying on gender assumptions.

The materials also address contentious public debates, including the participation of transgender athletes in girls' sports. The documents acknowledge that public opinion on this issue is contested, saying that opposition messaging has been effective and recommending communication strategies intended to reframe the debate. Suggested tactics include "race-forward, deep, story-based, and culturally specific public education" designed to contextualize transgender experiences for particular audiences.

Messaging, political critique and Critical Race Theory

The packet includes guidance on narrative framing and political messaging. It recommends using a "Race Class Gender Narrative" to mobilize supportive constituencies (specifically naming Black, AAPI, and Gen Z audiences) and to persuade undecided audiences. Some sections advise identifying and naming political opponents in strong terms, instructing organizers to "name the villains who violate our values" and to present those opponents as obstacles to families' needs.

The materials also discuss recent attacks on Critical Race Theory (CRT), characterizing such attacks as part of coordinated messaging that mixes concerns about race and gender to mobilize opposition. The handbook urges that progressives respond to these tactics rather than focus solely on economic arguments.

Reactions

Critics quoted in the materials argue the packets reflect ideological priorities. Kendall Tietz, an investigative reporter for Defending Education, said the materials indicate a "race-based, gender-ideology-driven model of activist education" that she believes departs from teachers' core responsibilities. Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications at Defending Education, criticized the language in the materials and suggested the union's federal charter should be reexamined; in a quoted remark she described the union’s leadership in strongly negative terms.

Supporters and union representatives have framed similar trainings as efforts to protect and support LGBTQ+ educators and students and to address discrimination and harassment in schools. The NEA did not provide additional comment in the documents reviewed; the organization was contacted for comment about these packets.

Context

National teachers' unions have faced ongoing criticism from parent groups and some political actors who argue that union materials and school curricula promote particular ideological perspectives. Supporters argue that trainings on identity, inclusion and bias are meant to create safer, more supportive learning and workplace environments for students and staff.