Parents in California are standing up for their parental rights and pushing back against state policies that target young children with LGBTQ ideology.
Nearly 150 demonstrators with printed T-shirts that read “Leave Our Kids Alone”, took to the streets of downtown L.A. to oppose LGBTQ+ education as part of the public school curriculum.
#HAPPENINGNOW Los Angeles, CA –
Parents are now marching on the streets and headed from City Hall to LAUSD HQ where the board is currently meeting.
LARGE police presence. pic.twitter.com/qBAdNlwFKR
— Anthony Cabassa (@AnthonyCabassa_) August 22, 2023
During Monday’s demonstration, two counter-protestors were arrested for clashing with the parental protestors as they marched from City Hall to the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters.
They want LGBTQ+ community and sex-related education to be kept out of schools and they want school districts to notify parents if their child asks to identify as a gender in school in a manner different than the student’s gender as determined at birth, the LA Times reports.
“We believe that there is a radical indoctrination system that has seeped from academia and now into K through 12. We’ve been trying to get kiddie porno smut books out of the schools,” Ben Richards, San Diego parent and the founder of SoCal Parent Advocates told the outlet. “And we don’t want people to talk about sex with our children without telling us and behind our backs.”
It’s the latest sign of a grassroots movement where parents and grandparents are challenging state officials over policies that drive a wedge between them and their children.
Last week, parental rights advocates held a press conference to highlight the barrage of bills infringing both upon parental rights and local control of school curriculum.
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“Their goal was to break up the family unit and take control of our children,” said Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD ) Board President Sonja Shaw. “When we push back they do unethical things to quiet us.”
CVUSD is leading the way on a school policy that notifies parents if a child is suicidal, is a victim of bullying, gets seriously injured, or asks their teachers to refer to them as a different gender from that listed on their official documents.
So far, Murrieta Unified School District has approved the policy and the Orange Unified School District is considering the mandate.
But as the California Family Council shares, state lawmakers are pushing several pieces of legislation to take local control from communities and strip parents of their rights to care for their children.
As CBN News reported, AB 957 would classify parents who do not endorse their child’s gender confusion as abusive and, if passed, it could result in a child’s removal from their family’s home.
AB 957 already requires courts to consider whether parents are affirming their child’s gender in custody battles, but a proposed amendment “would include a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity as part of the health, safety, and welfare of the child.”
The new amendment alters the California Family Code and would allow courts to step in if a family disapproves of transgender ideology.
“This means that parents in custody fights will have a material incentive to support affirmation as a means of gaining custody and judges will have to give priority to that issue when weighing and balancing the social factors that always are part of such cases,” writes Wesley Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism.
Parents from Sacramento to San Diego to Los Angeles are waging war against the state’s aggressive policies.
“We are giving parents a voice,” Shaw said. “It doesn’t matter if you are Democrat or Republican. It doesn’t matter what party you affiliate with. It doesn’t matter what religious background you come from. We all come together because parents have a right and we want to protect our children.”
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