North Carolina Senate Committee Passes Parents’ Bill of Rights – Activists Oppose Such Common Sense Measures

The North Carolina Senate Education and Health Care Committees passed House Bill 755, titled, “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

The legislation strengthens parental rights in education and protects children from inappropriate and confusing lessons on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.” The measure has already passed the state’s House of Representatives.

According to NC Family Policy Council, a Focus on the Family ally, the bill would:

Prohibit schools from teaching lessons on “sexual orientation or gender identity” before the fourth grade.
Require teachers to inform parents if their child has requested a change in name or pronouns prior to making any alterations to the student’s identity in official records.
Allow parents access to textbooks and other instructional materials upon request, along with procedures to express any concerns.
Require healthcare practitioners to obtain parental consent before providing minors with treatment of any type — except in suspected cases of abuse or neglect.

NC Family President John Rustin testified in support of the measure to strengthen parents’ rights, saying:

Parents have a fundamental right to the care, upbringing, and education of their children. Unfortunately, we are seeing too many instances these days where the interests of parents and families are being overlooked, ignored, and even condemned.

Rustin’s testimony points to something the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed in three famous cases: Meyers v. Nebraska, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, and Wisconsin v. Yoder.

In each case, the Court affirmed that parents have the right to control the education of their children, and to oversee their moral and religious upbringing, without unreasonable interference from the state.

In Pierce, the Court said: “The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”

Most parents want to protect their children from lessons that sexualize and confuse them.

Most parents don’t want teachers talking with their five-year-old about the varieties of “sexual orientations” or telling them they might really be the opposite sex.

Parents want curriculum transparency – for schools to be open and honest about what they teach. And they want to know if a school is pushing their child toward “health care” such as contraceptives, abortion, psychological treatment or “transitioning.”

Of course, it’s not just the Supreme Court that gives educational authority to parents. God tells the children of Israel, in the well-known passage in Deuteronomy 6, to teach their children the word of the Lord, to talk about them when traveling, when at home, at night and in the morning.

The apostle Paul emphasizes this in Ephesians 6, when he instructs fathers, “Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Parents are responsible for their children, not the state.

But there are those on the left that don’t realize this. An NPR article about legislation promoting parents’ rights in education quoted Arjee Restar, an assistant professor of epidemiology, who said:

The institutionalization of these bills is an overt form of structural transphobia and homophobia, and it goes against all public health evidence in creating a safe and supportive environment for transgender, nonbinary, queer, gay and lesbian youths and teachers to thrive.

Evidently NPR thinks an assistant professor of epidemiology knows what’s better for children than their parents do.

The article also quoted LGBT activist Kathryn Poe of Equality Ohio, who said,

When we segment children off and tell them that they don’t exist and that they don’t matter and effectively erase them from the classroom … we effectively erase them. We alienate an entire group of young people who need our affirmation and support.

Yes, a woman who uses the plural pronoun “they” knows what’s good for your children.

She’s dreadfully mistaken, of course. There are no “LGBT children.” There are boys and girls, and we should let them by boys or girls – as indicated by their physical bodies.

It’s not healthy to place adult sexual identities on children – nor is it healthy for adults to want to.

Children who struggle with their sexuality need love, encouragement, truth and healing, in order to embrace their identity as male or female. They don’t need to be pushed toward homosexuality or transgenderism.

But NPR wasn’t done.

The news organization asked two more activists what they thought about parental rights laws. Ames Simmons is “a queer white transgender man” (i.e., born female, using pronouns he/him/él), who teaches “Re-Thinking Gender: Transgender Issues Readings Course” at Duke Law. David Brown is Legal Director at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Simmons told NPR:

Florida may be the first in this wave, but there have been other laws in the past that were called “no promo homo” laws, which forbid saying positive things about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people in classrooms. With the increased visibility of transgender and non-binary people, we have seen these bills expand to also prohibit educating students about gender diversity and gender identity.

Brown said:

This trend is the continuation of a playbook that has been brought out again and again, repeatedly targeting the most marginalized groups in our society for political gain. 

Why do reporters turn right to activists on questions of parental rights?

Why don’t they simply ask parents, “Do you want schools sexualizing and confusing your first grader?” Or, “Do you want to know what they’re teaching your child in school?” Or, “Should your five-year-old be learning “about gender diversity and gender identity?”

Could it be those reporters and their old-media outlets have the same beliefs and agenda as LGBT activists and “comprehensive sex educators,” who have said:

[T]he early grades may in fact be the best time to introduce topics related to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, gender equality and social justice related to the LGBTQ+ community before heteronormative and cisnormative values and assumptions become more deeply ingrained and less mutable.

Rustin disagrees with these activists, sex educators, LGBT activists and their allies. He told the Senate committee, “This bill will help to ensure that the rights and interests of parents are not only acknowledged, but also followed, especially in the areas of education and health care.”

The bill now heads to the Senate Rules Committee and then to the full Senate.

Related articles and resources:

North Carolina Family Policy Council:

Fighting For Fundamental Rights
State Senate Committees Pass “Parents’ Bill Of Rights”

Back to School – for Parents: A Busy parent’s guide to what’s happening in your children’s classrooms and practical steps you can take to protect them.

Breaking News: Florida ‘Parental Rights in Education’ Bill Signed Into Law

Illinois School District to Teach Preschoolers About ‘Sexual Orientation’ and ‘Gender Identity’

New Jersey to Require 1st Graders to Learn About Gender Identity Starting This Fall

Sex Educators Say ‘Early Grades May Be the Best Time’ to Introduce Children to LGBT Issues

Focus on the Family:

Resources: Homosexuality
Transgender Resources

Photo from Shutterstock.

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