Leftist Groups Didn’t Hold Back
This was a major take-away from last week: the relationship between students and staff is more important than the relationship between students and parents.
Sometimes during committees the veil is removed and we hear what left-leaning advocacy groups really think. That’s what happened last week. During a House Education K-12 Subcommittee meeting groups opposed to three bills we helped initiate were clearly hostile towards parental rights and so aggressive in defending the idea that schools—not parents—should have the final say in a child’s life.
Sage’s Law
HB 532 would require schools to notify parents if their child requests to socially transition at school, reinforcing the role of parents in major decisions affecting their child’s physical, emotional, and psychological well-being.
Narissa Rahaman with Equality Virginia stated:
“This policy will forcefully out LGBTQ students, destroy trust between all students and staff…”
Kaili Moss, a representative of the ACLU, said:
“It causes schools to disclose deeply personal information about a student without that student’s consent…”
Tasha Steele with the Virginia Education Association argued:
“Students need to trust educators, and this bill drives a wedge between that relationship.”
Interpretation: Teachers and administrators should be trusted over parents, and schools should be allowed to withhold information from families.
Parental Opt-Out Protections
HB 721 would ensure that parents are given a clear opportunity to opt their child out of curriculum related to sex, sexuality, and gender identity—especially when it conflicts with their religious or moral convictions, rights recently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Mahmoud v. Taylor.
Tasha Steele of the Virginia Education Association claimed:
“The bill [makes it] more challenging for students to be their authentic selves.”
Narissa Rahaman added:
“It’s an attack on LGBTQ stories… all stories deserve to be seen and heard.”
Interpretation: Children must be taught about sexuality and gender and must hear every viewpoint regardless of parental objections.
Teaching Human Development with Ultrasound
HB 719 would ensure that students are taught scientifically accurate information about human development in the womb, including the use of ultrasound imagery as an educational tool in Family Life Education or science courses.
Meg Gruber with the Virginia Education Association appeared to take offense at the idea that teaching how a human being develops in the womb is science-based instruction. Click the image below and listen to her odd comments.
Piece by piece, education activists are advancing policies that create dependency between minor children and the school system. And the pattern is unmistakable: the VEA and LGBTQ advocacy organizations are aligned in promoting a model where school systems are empowered to make deeply personal decisions for children, while parents are kept at arm’s length.
Parents deserve transparency. Parents deserve respect. And parents MUST remain the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives.
