You’ve seen “White Women for Kamala” and “White Dudes for Harris” — but don’t expect a booster group called “Parents for Kamala and Tim.”
Kamala Harris is squarely opposed to parents’ right to control what young children are taught about gender, sex and sexuality in school.
And on Tuesday, she chose as her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former schoolteacher and teachers union member who shares her extreme anti-parent views.
Harris and Walz are out of line with what most Americans think — and not just Republicans.
A majority of Hispanic Democrats and black Democrats also want to keep gender ideology out of elementary school classrooms, according to Pew Research and YouGov polls.
Last month, Harris promised the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention that as president she’d oppose the wave of state laws that bar preschool and elementary school teachers from indoctrinating children about sexual orientation and gender choices.
She’s also vociferously fought “book ban” laws, suggesting she’s OK with giving young children reading material that encourages them to question their own gender identity.
“We want to ban assault weapons. They want to ban books,” she railed to AFT members.
At issue are books for the youngest readers — books like “I Am Jazz” that tell little girls they can be boys, and little boys they can be girls.
Jazz “had a girl’s brain in a boy’s body,” the picture book aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds reads. ”She was transgender.”
Parental rights and the innocence of young children are at stake in this election, warns Terry Schilling of the American Principles Project, which has launched an $18 million anti-Harris ad campaign across seven swing states.
Schilling calls Harris “an extremist.”
All people, regardless of their sexual orientation, deserve respect.
But parents need the final say on what their children are taught.
Harris has a history of bashing lawmakers who side with parents. At a June 23, 2023 Pride Rally, she called them “extremists.”
Who’s extreme here?
The AFT has attacked a Henrico County, Va., parent for questioning the appropriateness of “I’m a Gay Wizard,” a book for middle schoolers that depicts two boy characters having oral sex.
On June 18, Harris posted a picture of herself on social media hugging a tall man in drag, dressed in a metallic bikini and stilettos, with the message, “Our LGBTQ+ children should not fear who they are.”
Of course they shouldn’t. All children deserve respect.
But this battle isn’t about inclusion — inclusion is a good thing. It’s about indoctrination.
An AFT report published in 2023 asserts, “Books that normalize sexual identity confusion can help young people realize that they are not alone in their struggle.”
The report goes on to say that “the lack of candid conversations in families” about “nonheterosexual identity development” must be offset by teachers in the classroom.
Sorry, most parents don’t want the AFT — or local school authorities — replacing the family in this way. Kamala Harris apparently does.
So does her new running mate.
Last year, Minnesota parents organized to stop “Call Me Max,” a book about a transgender boy, being read aloud in kindergarten, saying that the lesson planted seeds of doubt about sexual identity in children too young to understand the concept.
Several states have banned the book from classrooms.
In response, Walz on May 17 signed a state law barring parental groups from removing books or materials from school libraries based on content, calling the efforts “regressive.”
The bill mimicked California legislation that leaves educators, not families, in control of such decisions.
In contrast, Republicans and former President Donald Trump have vowed to cut federal funding for any school or program that tries to instill gender ideology and other “inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content into our children.”
So the choice in November is between California values — extremely liberal Kamala Harris values — or the values your family chooses.
Meanwhile, the real emergency in education is being ignored: Barely a third of fourth graders nationally are proficient in reading, and fewer than a third are proficient in math.
Blame the AFT and its sister union, the National Education Association.
The AFT website is chock full of advocacy about immigration rights, transgender rights, firearm bans and other political issues.
You’ll have to look hard to find a word about pedagogy — how to teach reading and math effectively.
After Walz’s selection Tuesday, both the AFT and the NEA rushed to applaud the pick.
But moms and dads who care about their children’s innocence and their future will cast their votes against AFT toady Harris and her anti-parent running mate in November.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.
https://nypost.com/2024/08/06/opinion/kamala-harris-tim-walz-side-with-teachers-unions-over-parents/
