The so-called Equality Act (H.R. 5) is moving very quickly through Congress. Despite the bill’s name, the Equality Act would dramatically elevate the rights and privileges of a select few while dealing a devastating blow to parental rights.
Speaker Pelosi has signaled that a vote on H.R. 5 will take place on or before May 17, so time is of the essence for people of faith and conscience to contact their Member of Congress and implore them to vote NO on this radical bill.
H.R. 5 is far-sweeping; it would amend several federal civil rights laws including the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to make sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes equal to immutable and inborn characteristics like race, age, sex and national origin.
The results of this radical legislation will be widespread and disastrous. We need only look to the states or our neighbor to the north with similar laws to predict what we’re in for should the Equality Act become law.
In 16 states now, parents do not have a choice when they seek counseling for their children struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion. In other words, counseling that encourages children to change their gender – even to go through irreversible “genital reconstruction” operations – would be protected by the state. But counseling to help children accept their God-given birth sex would be outlawed. These therapy bans interfere with parents’ right to direct their children’s upbringing and completely disregard family faith or values. What’s worse—the bans were passed with no regard for what type of therapy may actually be best for children long-term.
In Ohio — a state without legislation of this sort — a judge already removed custody from parents of a 17-year-old for their refusal to allow her to undergo life-altering gender transition hormone treatments. This decision came after a two-year custody battle which started with family services alleging parental neglect and abuse for their religiously held beliefs about gender. When the child was placed in temporary custody of family services, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital recommended the 17-year-old undergo hormone therapy at its Transgender Health Clinic, which she did.
This hospital tells first-time patients that their healthcare providers may speak to minors without their parents because “Sometimes young people also have questions that they are afraid to ask in front of their family or guardians.” The clinic also conducts a psychosocial interview to “help understand how the patient and family or guardians are functioning and see if there are any needs.”
It’s not far-fetched to surmise that what they really mean is “see if parents support the gender transition of their young son or daughter, and if not, we’ll take you to court.”
That’s exactly what happened to a Canadian dad earlier this year. In February, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada ruled that a 14-year-old girl would be administered testosterone injections by her doctor against her father’s wishes and consent. Despite a parent’s insistence that his minor daughter should wait until she was older — not a child anymore — to make this life-altering decision, the court said the child had the right to decide for herself. The judge, who ruled on the basis of federal law, blatantly dismissed parental objection to the medical treatment of his minor child.
As if the case couldn’t get any worse, it did. Just last month, the judge declared the father guilty of “family violence” due to his “expressions of rejection of [her] gender identity.” In other words, a dad refused to refer to his daughter as a boy. As a result, he was convicted of a crime against his daughter, given a gag order and ordered not to expose his daughter to any resources which may bring her gender identity or treatment into question.
These cases seem to say everyone other than parents knows best! We believe differently.
We know that parents have a God-given and Constitutionally protected right to direct the upbringing of their children—including their moral values, faith, education and healthcare. We cannot allow misguided legislation to threaten that right!
We believe families should have the right to pursue mental health counseling consistent with their beliefs and religion — be it for depression, anxiety, gender confusion or any other condition.
We believe parents must have the right to prevent their children from accessing experimental puberty-blocking hormones, cross-sex hormones (which can lead to sterilization), and certainly irreversible, life-altering “genital reconstruction” surgery.
Will you stand with us today to ensure that parents across our nation retain their ability to guide the moral upbringing and medical care of their children? If so, please contact your Member of Congress today and urge him or her to vote NO on the Equality Act.
Because parents, not Nancy Pelosi, know best how to care for their children,
Autumn Leva
Vice President of Strategy
Today, H.R. 5, the so-called Equality Act—the bill that will manipulate schoolchildren to carry water for the LGBT agenda, whether their parents like it or not—heads to its first hearing in the U.S. House Education Committee.
Tell Congress to Vote NO on H.R. 5!
H.R. 5 is one of Pelosi’s top priorities for this year, and that is deeply concerning. The radical changes to children’s curriculum the bill seeks to make will concern millions of families. But even beyond the specific curriculum changes, it is extremely rare for the federal government to so deeply insert itself in the specifics of children’s curriculum in K-12 schools. This is Big Government at its finest, flexing its muscles to force the LGBT agenda in every classroom in America.
If Pelosi and the LGBT activist groups who fund her campaign succeed in pushing H.R. 5 forward, what will be the practical implications for our children?
For starters, major changes in your child’s curriculum:
- The importance and seriousness of the Civil Rights Movement to achieve racial equality in schools will no longer be taught.
H.R. 5 by its very nature is not about achieving equal educational opportunities for all. It’s about forcing every administrator, teacher, child, and parent involved in schools to give any person who identifies as LGBT a platform in our schools, and special rights above and beyond everyone else.
H.R. 5 will change what it means to achieve equal rights for all in America. Our students, who will no longer be able to distinguish between the heroism and sacrifice of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and the rainbow flag poster of a sexualized political agenda on their school wall, deserve better.
If “equal rights for all” now means ensuring young children are informed that “little boys can become little girls,” then the power of the Civil Rights Movement ends with H.R. 5.
- Schools will be required to cover “LGBT sexual experiences” in sexual education.
Colorado and California both already have laws similar to H.R. 5, and those states require teaching “LGBT sexual experiences” in sex ed.
And California sex education guidelines include teaching children about having multiple sexual partners, and warning children about “religion abuse” that would include “forcing others to adhere to rigid gender roles [or] [n]ot allowing a partner to do things they enjoy.”
As if that weren’t bad enough, California prohibits any teaching that would reflect adversely on the LGBT community. And Colorado has introduced legislation that refers to traditional perspectives on sexuality as shameful, fear-based, and bigoted.
H.R. 5 would force this type of sexual education curriculum on the entire country—not just states with liberal leadership.
- Schools will be required to weave LGBT ideology into every class—not just sex ed.
Sadly, the changes envisioned in H.R. 5 don’t stop at sex education class. The idea is to weave LGBT-centric themes throughout the school’s entire curriculum.
Take, for example, New Jersey’s new “LGBT curriculum” policy. Imagine a literature or history class where students are not just taught the historic contributions of literary giants like Emily Dickinson or former U.S. presidents, but the curriculum also questions the sexual preferences of our historic figures.
One textbook example ponders the fact that President James Buchanan may have been gay because he never married and maintained close male friends. A former American president is reduced to the sort of suspect commentary found in newspaper tabloids and gossip magazines.
What’s worse, parents really would have no opportunity to opt-out their children from exposure to this type of teaching or the topic of gender transition, because it is woven into every aspect of the curriculum.
If H.R. 5 were to pass, parents who object would have no voice in their children’s classrooms, and children’s precious academic time will be consumed by nonsense speculation over what kind of sexual exploits any given historical figure was having.
Please help us ask the Congress to STOP H.R. 5 today!
It will only take one minute through our automatic action center.
Thank you!
The Family Policy Alliance Team