Expand and Enforce North Carolina's Parents' Bill of Rights
A North Carolina group that focuses on life, family, and religious freedom held a Legislative Day of Action on Wednesday, May 15 to advocate for a strengthened Parental Bill of Rights and call for the removal of pornographic material from public schools.
A North Carolina-based group is fighting against rogue school boards and leftist activists who continually flood public schools with inappropriate material and defy a recently passed Parents’ Bill of Rights.
NC Values Coalition, a group that promotes life, family, and religious freedom through community engagement and education, held a press conference and invited community members to talk to their legislators during their annual Legislative Day of Action on Wednesday, May 15. The group focused on restoring parental consent for all minors concerning medical care, removing obscene books in schools, and adding civil penalties for violation of SB49.
Lawmakers passed the Parents’ Bill of Rights in August 2023, and the legislation works to protect children from predatory practices and allows full transparency between parents and schools. SB49 keeps parents informed by requiring public schools to notify parents of changes in students’ legal names or pronouns and bans curricula from including gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality before the fourth grade. Many bills that protect children, including SB49, passed in 2023. Others included HB 574, which prevents transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, and HB 808, which bans minors from accessing specific gender affirming care.
All Parents Should Support a Parental Bill of Rights
“This is not a partisan issue. This is not a racial issue. You look at every poll out there and without fail Democrats and Republicans agree in protecting our children,” State Rep. Neal Jackson (R-Randolph) said at the conference. “So we are united and we ask for your support at protecting our children from those who would do us harm.”
The coalition delivered over 4000 signatures to Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R-Rutherford) urging lawmakers to continue building on the Parents’ Bill of Rights (SB49).
Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper attempted to veto the legislation, but the Republican supermajority in the North Carolina House and Senate voted to override the veto. After the law took effect, numerous school boards began to rewrite or completely defy the law.
(COMMENTARY: Roy Cooper Joins Trans Activists to Torpedo Parents’ Rights In North Carolina)
Give the Parental Bill of Rights Some Teeth
The NC Values Coalition hopes lawmakers will bolster SB49 by adding penalties for school systems that choose to willingly violate the law. During the press conference Q&A, NC Values President Tami Fitzgerald proposed a minimum penalty of “$1,000 per occurrence” for violations.
The group also called for statewide criteria for determining appropriate books for schools.
“We should adopt a statewide criterion for book selection to ensure books are educationally and age-appropriate and to require schools to comply with North Carolina’s obscenity laws,” said Fitzgerald.
“As a lifelong Democrat and a retired teacher, I was shocked at what our team found when we began investigating school libraries throughout our state,” said Janet Peterson with the Pavement Education Project (PEP). PEP offers parents and citizens an opportunity to see what books are available in North Carolina schools.
Gays Against Groomers of North Carolina Chapter President Brian Talbert attended the press conference. He told attendees that he has been a gay man for 54 years but is now considered “homophobic” by the mainstream gay community because he chose to “stand against this crap.”
“The predators are using gay inclusion and acceptance as a gateway to bring this filth into our schools and into the minds of our children,” said Talbert.
(MORE NORTH CAROLINA: Josh Stein Refuses to Fight Rogue School Boards, Enforce Parents’ Bill of Rights)
