West Warwick, RI – The West Warwick School Committee is facing questions from parental rights advocates and community members about a Rainbow Club (LGBQT Alliance) at John F. Deering Middle School. A  job posting on July 29, 2025 described the club as a space for “all members of the school community” to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Deering Middle School in West Warwick, Rhode Island posted a job for a ‘Rainbow Club Advisor (LGBQT Alliance)’ where ‘all members of the school community’ talk abt sexual orientation & fake gender identity,” posted Nicole Solas on X. “‘ALL members?’ Staff, teachers, & 11 yr olds talking abt sex? Groomers.”

Critics say the language could allow adults and children, some potentially as young as eleven or younger, to meet together to talk about sexual topics, raising concerns about parental rights and the sexualization of children.

The Ocean State Current has reached out to all the members of the West Warwick School Committee with the following questions. This story will be updated with their responses as they are submitted.

1. What is your individual position on the activities of the Rainbow Club (LGBQT Alliance) at Deering Middle School? How aware is the School Committee as a whole of its activities?

2. Why are children potentially as young as 11 talking about sexual topics in a school club?

3. Does “all members” of the school community mean adults and children meet together to talk about sexual topics?

4. Are parents told exactly what is discussed and asked for permission beforehand?

5. How does this comply with basic standards for age-appropriate education?

A Rhode Island mother, identified as “Jane Doe,” has filed a lawsuit against state education officials, alleging West Warwick Public Schools allowed her daughter to socially transition to a male identity without her knowledge or consent. 

The case, brought by the Law Centre at the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, challenges an purposeful misinterpretation of a 2018 state regulation to expanded the definition of “sex” in education law to include gender identity.

Doe discovered the transition following a suicide attempt in 2022 and learned the school had changed her child’s name and pronouns in official records.The lawsuit names Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green and seeks to repeal the regulation. The mother claims her daughter’s gender questioning began after joining the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance and diversity clubs.