Parental Rights Over the Education and Care of Their Kids Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to start my comments with a simple truth: There are only two sexes, male and female.

Sex is a biological fact, not an ideological whim. Yet, across our country, school districts are actively pushing radical gender ideology on children and, in some cases, facilitating social transitions without parental knowledge or consent.

I grew up in a time when most Americans, like me, knew what a boy was and what a girl was. This was not ever controversial. Unfortunately, with the rise of radical gender ideology today, many have lost what was called common sense.

Here is another truth that should not be contentious: Parents, not school administrators, should have the ultimate right to make decisions about their child's upbringing. Once again, this is common sense.

The Heritage Foundation has written: ``A century of Supreme Court jurisprudence supports the notion that parents enjoy the fundamental constitutional right to direct the upbringing, health, and education of their children.''

We are not talking about nicknames on football teams. We are talking adults, with no relation to a minor child, secretly transitioning a child, and then actively working to conceal it from that child's parents. That is madness. If a child is struggling with gender dysphoria, then parents should be the first, not the last, to know.

Right now, according to Defending Education, at least 21,000 schools in 1,200 districts, covering over 12 million students, have policies that prevent faculty and staff from disclosing a student's gender identity to his own parents without the student's permission. That is simply unacceptable.

If a child needs a permission slip signed to go on a field trip, a school should never think it has the right to socially transition that same child without informing his or her parents.

The Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act is straightforward: Any district that promotes these ideologies in a classroom or conceals a child's gender transition from parents will lose Federal funding.

Our school system should be teaching children how to read, write, and think, not how to turn little Johnny into little Jenny. Not long ago, these ideas would not have been controversial.

Today, too many schools want to cut parents out and push their own personal ideology instead. I am grateful to Chairman Walberg for the work he has done to bring this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge every one of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important legislation.

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