Suppression of Parental Rights in California
The state's attorney general is suing districts who inform parents of their child's gender ID changes and pronouns
Remember this from a decade ago - Melissa Harris-Perry's "All your kids are belong to us" moment?
Flash forward to 2023 and the Biden Administration's rather creepy "Pride" celebration video message in which the president declared kids are not somebody else's, "they're all our kids."
Now jump forward to this past month.
Suppression of parental rights has gone to a new level in California.
The state’s top law enforcement official is literally suing its own school districts that inform parents about their minor child’s gender identity and pronoun status.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has launched the first lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District which has such a policy. That district adopted the policy in July and the district also requires parents to be notified if their child asks to use a bathroom designated for the opposite sex.
“Every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity – regardless of their gender identity,” Bonta said in a press release about the lawsuit. “We’re in court challenging Chino Valley Unified’s forced outing policy for wrongfully and unconstitutionally discriminating against and violating the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ students.”
Bonta didn’t stop there. Using civil rights as his launchpad, he had his own “all your kids belong to us” moment.
“The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home,” said Bonta. “Our message to Chino Valley Unified and all school districts in California is loud and clear: We will never stop fighting for the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students.”
Later in the press release, he claims the Chino Valley Board’s “plain motivations in adopting the policy were to create and harbor animosity, discrimination, and prejudice towards transgender and gender-nonconforming students…”
Bonta told reporters that Chino Valley’s policy “tramples student rights.”
These are minor children we’re talking about here. What about the parent’s rights?
Chino Valley doesn’t seem to be backing down.
Sonja Shaw, the district’s president, called California state officials involved in the lawsuit " government bullies" for trying to strong-arm districts to comply.
"I'm proud of our district. They're going to continue to put their feet in the sand and we're not going to give up,” Shaw told reporters. “I mean, we're going to stand in the gap. We're going to continue to push back. We're not going to let government bullies bully us into any kind of compliancy."
Two other districts with similar policies are likely two on Bonta’s lawsuit list; Murrieta Valley Unified School District and The Temecula Valley Unified School District.
More To The Story
Both Bonta and California Governor Gavin Newsom appear to have taken positions pitting schools against parents and parents against their children. This isn’t going to end well.
Earlier this year, Newsom threatened to fine the Temecula Valley Unified School District after it rejected an elementary school's social studies curriculum that included books about Harvey Milk, a gay rights advocate and known pedophile.
By the way, it’s important to note that Bonta is “exploring” a gubernatorial run to replace Newsom.
Bonta and Newsom have danced on the line of the remarks that took down Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe's 2020 gubernatorial campaign.
“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” McAuliffe said just months before the 2020 election. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
Glenn Youngkin, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent and now governor of Virgina, tore down McAuliffe for his remarks.
“You believe school systems should tell children what to do. I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education,” Youngkin said.
McAuliffe and Bonta's sentiments were essentially mimicked this past August by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
“Obviously, parents are the existential reality in the upbringing of any child without question,” Murphy said. “But let’s not violate the constitutional and civil rights of precious young folks in many cases who are coming to grips with life as they grow up and grow older, let’s be respectful of that.”
Murphy has sicced his state’s attorney general on at least three districts, per the NY Post:
"State Attorney General Matthew Platkin actually went to court Tuesday to stop three districts — in Middletown, Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown — from requiring schools to notify Mom and Dad if their kids want to switch genders."
The U.S. Supreme Court begs to differ with Bonta and his litigious, like-minded colleagues, having ruled pretty decisively in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) that children belong to their parents.
"The history and culture of Western civilization reflect a strong tradition of parental concern for the nurture and upbringing of their children. This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition."
The ruling recognized that being a parent has an inherent duty of caring for and raising a child. As a result, parents have a "fundamental right" to direct the upbringing and care of that child - as well as overseeing their child’s education.
In Yoder, the Supreme Court’s opinion was it is a parent’s responsibility to instill "moral standards, religious beliefs, and elements of good citizenship." Bonta’s lawsuit seems to be arguing it is the state and not the parent that should decide those things.
Parents in California do seem to be pushing back.
On Aug. 21, at least 150 parent protesters took to the streets over LGBT-themed sex education, pornographic books, and Gay Pride events imposed on students.
According to The L.A. Times, the protesters came from all over southern California and they marched from City Hall to the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters.
Just this past week, a mom with an 11-year-old daughter won a fairly big case against their school district.
The mom, Jessica Konen, filed suit against the Spreckels Union School District in Monterey County for social transitioning her daughter’s gender without notifying her or obtaining her consent.
The district settled with Konen for $100,000 but refused to admit fault.
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