Two Recent Victories!
We are happy to report some encouraging developments this summer on both the parental rights and gender and human design fronts.
Parental Oversight of Sexually Explicit Material
After years of fighting hard to keep schools from presenting highly sensitive and sexualized materials to children, we are finally seeing some progress with helpful policies from Governor Youngkin’s administration.
Last week, the Virginia Department of Education finalized its Model Policies for Sexually Explicit Materials in accordance with SB 656 (R-Dunnavant), which the General Assembly passed this year. These policies ensure schools notify parents of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and to offer alternative, non-explicit instructional material in its place. These policies are now ready for local school divisions to implement!
These model policies prioritize parents’ involvement in their child’s education by doing things like requiring principals to publish sexually explicit material and emphasizing the importance of protecting a child’s innocence, a concept that’s attacked by today’s culture.
Unlike the Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students published by VDOE under the Northam Administration in 2021, which violate the legal rights and responsibilities of parents, these model policies actually acknowledge that parents do in fact have the fundamental responsibility to make decisions about their child’s education.
Of course the work isn’t finished, as each local school board must adopt the VDOE policies or something more comprehensive no later than January 1, 2023. But our Grassroots and Policy teams are already working on a plan to spread the word and help encourage school boards to create policies that protect parental rights.
Request to ban “Conversion Therapy” Denied!
On another front, the Department of Health Professions rejected a request to create a regulation that prohibits the ability of a licensed Behavior Analyst to help an adult overcome unwanted sexual desires or gender confusion using mere talk strategies (i.e., “conversion therapy”). These so-called “conversion therapy” bans have been struck down as unconstitutional limitations on free speech by courts across the country and represent classic “viewpoint discrimination.”
We urged the Department to reject the proposal because it would also interfere with a patient’s right to direct the purpose and goals of their therapy/counseling. The reality is that people can and do change their mind, behavior, and desires relative to their sexuality all the time, often due to professional counseling they have received.
We love it when we get to communicate good news to you, especially when many parents are feeling overwhelmed by the avalanche of hypersexualized topics that conflict with their family values being taught to their kids. We are thankful that good decisions are being made that protect our rights and freedoms.
