Review 1 day ago

Video doesn't show entire middle school class identifying as trans, nonbinary. Here's proof

People online claimed the video showed the result of "grooming" and called for parents and educators to be arrested.

Claim:

A video authentically shows an entire middle school class identifying as trans and nonbinary.

Rating:

In April 2026, social media users alleged a video authentically shows an entire class at a middle school identifying as transgender and nonbinary. The clip begins with around 30 children — all wearing face masks — saying in unison, "Welcome to GSA!" Several brief student interviews follow that introduction.

For example, on April 6, social media user Darrell Rivera (@dareal08_) posted a 40-second clip on Facebook (archived) and TikTok (archived). The video displayed the onscreen caption, "Entire class at a Middle School identify as Trans and Non-binary. Get your children out of public schools." Rivera, narrating during the clip, alleged, "Instead of being taught math, English [and] social studies, these kids are being groomed to be identifying trans and nonbinary." Users then shared Rivera's clip on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived), making claims of indoctrination and calling for the arrest and prosecution of parents and educators.

In short, users misleadingly captioned a real video. The genuine clip did not contain any signs of manipulative editing or artificial intelligence, but it was inaccurately described in numerous online posts. Therefore we've rated this claim miscaptioned.

Users falsely claimed the clip showed a single class of students, for example one teacher's math or history class, in which all identified as trans and nonbinary. Those users missed the meaning of the teenagers' "Welcome to GSA!" message, which referenced a Saline, Michigan, meeting of Saline Middle School's Gay-Straight Alliance — a school club that brings together LGBTQ+ students and allies, not an "entire class" identifying as trans and nonbinary.

A user managing the school's GSA club TikTok account shared the longer, original video (archived) on Dec. 2, 2021, during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic — explaining why the clip showed the youths wearing face masks.

Snopes contacted Rivera — one of many users who shared the video with inaccurate captions — to ask whether he attempted to confirm the accuracy of his claims, as well as whether he could share any documented evidence regarding people having purportedly "groomed" the students. We also contacted a Saline Area Schools official to request comment and will update this article if we receive further information.

Researching the rumor

A Snopes reader emailed us to ask about this rumor. That reader wrote:

My brother in law told me about a middle school where every student identified as trans and the threw a party. Sounds like AI to me! I found several posts that discuss it. If you search for it, you will be able to find several posts on it.

Numerous basic searches of search engines and social media platforms for the phrases "'entire class' trans" and "entire class at middle school trans" (without quotation marks) located users posting the video in March and April. Those posts appeared on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived).

Reverse images searches found additional posts, including from Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived), with users falsely claiming the video showed an entire school identifying as trans and nonbinary.

In one example, David J. Harris Jr., host of the Newsmax TV show "The Pulse," shared a Facebook post (archived) with the inaccurate caption, "Apparently this entire school identifies as TRANS and non-binary... Thoughts?"

(David J. Harris Jr./Facebook)

We contacted Newsmax to ask about the Harris post and will update this story if we learn more details.

Some of the oldest social media reposts of the video dated back to at least October 2024, including with an Instagram video in which numerous commenters called for a school shooting. We alerted Meta, Instagram's parent company, to the past calls for violence against the students.

For further reading, in May 2024, The Saline Post website — reporting on news in the Saline area — reported about conservative news media outlets and right-wing commentators criticizing a Saline Area Schools district letter offering guidance on using gender-neutral language.