Guest Post by Becky Behrends, M.D. and Vice President of Research for Michigan Citizens for Election Integrity (MC4EI.com)
For traditional, conservative-minded parents, it’s about time!
Parents are now becoming aware of the need for “book review committees” with parental participation on them to screen the inappropriate materials flooding into school libraries in the US. Recently, in New Hanover County Schools in Wilmington, NC, conservative school board members have been pushing for this. Liberal board members are opposing them with the argument that it would “violate the right of parents to decide what their students should be allowed to read” and it would just add “another layer of government,” and the public has made it clear they do not want more government control.
Whew!! Stand back and take a breath!
Did you just read that correctly?!!
They have no problem with the explosion of diversity, equity, and inclusion administrative positions, committees, and jobs, ad nauseam. This has been covered recently by 100 Percent Fed Up in a compelling article. You can see where your state’s public schools rank on the number of DEI personnel.
Violation of a parent’s right to decide what their kids should be allowed to read in school? Such as “enriching and socially redeemable literature” like PUSH by Sapphire?
Are you comfortable with kids and teens being exposed to this kind of graphic portrayal of sex and violence? It’s pretty rich that the extreme left regressives (let’s stop using the term “progressive” with these folks) keep screaming “first amendment rights” to justify peddling porn and sexual garbage to school kids. Yes, the promoters of cancel culture and social media censorship for conservatives now want unrestrained speech in the form of inappropriate literature, sexual ideologies, and portrayals of violence.
In Michigan, this argument doesn’t hold water because we have specific sex education laws that forbid sexual content from being present in any classroom other than a formal sex-ed curriculum which has been reviewed by the sex education advisory board (SEAB) and approved by the board of education (BOE). The SEAB is the equivalent or comparable to a “book review committee,” as referred to in North Carolina. In addition, Michigan law forbids the dissemination of “explicit material” to minors. Librarians are only “excepted” from this if they comply with the Mi sex ed laws.
Regressive leftists/ liberals continually wrap themselves up into pretzels trying to justify “obscenity” by labeling it free speech. But Michigan law is clear on this subject as it pertains to government-funded schools educating our children.
Find out if your school district has a SEAB or some sort of sexual advisory committee that reviews the material that is utilized in school libraries and classrooms.
Volunteer to serve on such a committee so that your voice of reason and common sense can be heard!
It is no surprise that inappropriate sexual material becomes the norm and the teaching standard in schools when leftists/liberals predominate on SEABs and local school boards. Fairfax County, Virginia, has one of the largest and richest school districts in the nation. Twenty years ago, they started promoting “Heather Has Two Mommies” to little kids. In recent years, the sexual revolution has gone into hyper speed, with oral and anal sex being introduced to middle school kids in Fairfax County. Terminology such as “sex assigned at birth” was incorporated into the K-12 sex ed curriculum.
This is what may happen over time when conservative voices take a back seat. It is not the norm, and reasonable people condemn this sort of behavior. Concerns about the hypersexualization of children are bipartisan.
GSI collaborated with the Thomas More Society to create an Opt-Out Form. The Thomas More Society is a national, non-profit public interest law firm that exists to provide pro bono legal services to individuals or groups fighting to restore respect in law for life, family, religious liberty, and election integrity.
“It is a violation of privacy and a safety issue when teachers, counselors, or administrators have conversations or solicit private information from children through polls, quizzes, and other communications about human sexuality. State law requires that these practices are contained for sex-ed classes only. This would include promotion of any and all sexual ideologies. Students’ private information is protected by both state law and FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act). These laws keep all students safe. No student should be “outed” in school.”
Nowhere in the state law does it require that a parent must use a school’s form. In fact, the law clearly states that a school must accept a parent’s written opt-out!
There is a growing number of parents and school districts across Michigan who are now utilizing the GSI Opt-Out Form, which can be accessed on the GSI website.
They also stated that it is up to local schools and districts to decide how to respond to the GSI opt-out campaign. Legal risk thus is transferred to local school districts. The State Board of Education refuses to address the “rogue” nature of what is going on in required classes outside of the established sex-ed classes. The GSI opt-out form was created to cover times and situations where sex education or discussion is being taught outside of the regular sex-ed classes. In no way does this initiative deny the right or existence of LGBTQ students in schools. It simply protects the rights of parents over their children.
The GSI Opt-Out form includes rogue discussions about such topics as gender identity, gender expression, gender assignment, sexual identities, sexual expression, sexual orientation, gender fluidity, transitioning, and explicit sexual activity or behavior. It also includes opt-out from gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms. In addition, opt-out from polls and surveys used to indoctrinate kids on sexual identity and questions prying into the family lives of students.
Sexualizing children at young ages amounts to “grooming,” recruitment to unhealthy lifestyles, and indoctrination. This will only get infinitely worse unless we take action and take back our schools. Attend school board meetings, speak up, communicate with teachers as to what materials are in their classrooms, volunteer as substitutes at schools so that you can survey what is going on, serve on sex education advisory boards, lobby your legislators on these issues, join like-minded parental groups in your locations. There is much that can be done.