It’s becoming commonplace to disparage conservatives as dividers trying to drive wedges throughout our nation.
This is claimed because of the cultural issues that many conservatives are finally waking up to fight. But the veracity of the allegation can be pretty easily ascertained if we take time to examine the facts.
For example, consider Florida’s recent H.B. 1557. The official name of the bill is the Florida Parental Rights in Education bill, but critics call it the “don’t say gay” bill. Just comparing and contrasting how conservatives and liberals refer to the same bill says a lot about the divide in our nation.
The governor of Florida supported the bill and signed it into law at the end of March. This law has garnered national attention, from the Oscars to the President.
Joe Biden tweeted the bill was “hateful.” White House Press Secretary Psaki said last week, “This is a political wedge issue and an attempt to win a culture war, and they’re doing that in a way that is harsh and cruel to a community of kids.”
She continued, “I’m going to get emotional about this issue – because it’s horrible, but it’s like kids who are bullied and all these leaders are taking steps to hurt them and hurt their lives and hurt their families.”
The bill sounds abusive based on these statements.
The good news is we still have the freedom to actually look at the facts and find out the truth for ourselves. It’s relatively easy.
I read the bill and I encourage everyone to. Similar – or more stringent – bills are needed in every state. The bill is only seven pages long, and is mostly about encouraging transparency between schools and parents.
The bill doesn’t ban the discussion of gender at all, but one paragraph limits classroom instruction. The key paragraph reads, “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
The bill bans teachers from teaching on sexual orientation and gender ideology to five to eight-year-olds. The Left deems this hateful, harsh, cruel, horrible and hurtful to children.
The truth is: it is hateful, harsh, cruel, horrible and hurtful to children to teach these ideologies to create confusion and perversion in kids that young.
If you don’t believe people are actually pushing such views on children that young, watch an hour of Libs.Of.Tik.Tok to see actual videos of liberals posting videos of their beliefs; often they’re liberal teachers explaining what they promote to “their kids.” Keep in mind, Tik Tok is the main social media platform the younger generation uses.
Most people still have enough common sense that after viewing Libs.Of.Tik.Tok, they will have no doubt who is pushing horrible, harmful, cruel ideas.
The goal of bills like these is not to drive a wedge, it’s to protect children… and it’s the least that we should do.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.