August 21, 2024
Re: Parental Rights Over the Education and Care of Their (PROTECT) Kids Act
Dear Senator Scott and Representative Walberg,
Independent Women’s Voice (IWV), the leading national women’s organization dedicated to advancing policies that expand people’s freedom, opportunities, and well-being, applauds your efforts to protect parental rights in education.
Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly common for school staff to encourage and even facilitate gender transitioning for children as young as kindergarten age without parental consent. Many schools have also concealed students’ new identities from their parents.
Sadly, these reckless policies are causing real harm to real students. Schools must put an end to these anti-parent tactics and return to their general purpose of educating students and preparing them to succeed in life.
The PROTECT Kids Act seeks to right these wrongs by penalizing elementary and middle schools for changing a student’s name, pronouns, or sex-based accommodations, including single-sex spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms, without notifying parents.
We thank Senator Scott and Representative Walberg for taking a stand for parents and policies actually focused on protecting the well-being of schoolchildren. IWV applauds the goals of this bill.
Respectfully,
Carrie Lukas
Vice President
Independent Women’s Voice