House Bill 2936 Secures Parental Rights In Tennessee (Op-Ed)

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submitted by Karen England [President of Capitol Resources Institute and Take Back the Classroom] –

Children belong first and foremost to their parents.

When God blesses the world with a new child, he does it through the actions of a mother and a father—parents—who then have the responsibility to raise and train that child to become a productive member of society.

This concept of “parental rights” pre-dates our political system. But that doesn’t mean we can afford to let our elected representatives stand idly by while parents’ rights are assaulted from every side.

Never before have government actors been more aggressive about driving a wedge between parent and child. School officials are pushing students into “secret social transition plans” where the child begins to identify as a different sex—even changing their name and dress. And this process is willfully hidden from the parents. But the problem is not just outside the Volunteer State’s borders.

In 2022, a Germantown Municipal School District (Shelby County) employee, under the guise of collecting information related to an audition for a school play, prompted students to provide their preferred name and pronouns in addition to their legal name.¹

But the Tennessee educator did not stop there.

She then asked which name and pronouns should be used to refer to the student when she contacted the parents to discuss the student’s involvement.² Any attempt by a Tennessee public school to intentionally hide such critical information from the parent violates the parent’s fundamental right to direct the child’s upbringing, education, and care. Yet such egregious behavior does not violate any statute found in Tennessee Code.

Just one more example: In 2023, Wilson County Board of Education member Joseph Padilla, in response to stories told to him by his constituents, simply asked if the district had a policy that required a parent to be notified if that parent’s child expressed “gender confusion” or any other serious mental health issue.³(No policy was in place then, and there is still no such policy in place.)

For simply asking this reasonable question, activists accused Mr. Padilla of wanting to “out LGBTQ+ student to parents.”⁴

Rather than coming to his defense and standing with district parents, the other board members joined the pile-on, asserting that simply notifying parents would be “a procedural nightmare for the teacher.”⁵

The district superintendent also argued against a parental notification policy. “We don’t need a policy. We need to trust our professionals. . . . Do I think there are professionals that know—when those students confide in them—what is best for that student? Yes, I believe that, too.”⁶

These comments show that elected officials in Tennessee prioritize the preferences of government employees over the caring decisions of the child’s own parents.

This is why the General Assembly should pass the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act (HB2936). This bill establishes that, under Tennessee state law, parents’ right to the “care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of the child, is a fundamental right.”

Because it is a fundamental right—like free speech, the right to vote, and religious liberty—the right of fit parents to bring up their children as they deem best should receive top-tier protection from all levels of government.

While Tennessee has a historically strong record of protecting individual liberties, it lags behind the seventeen other states that have codified the fundamental right of parents to raise their children without interference from the government.

HB 2936 remedies this deficiency in state law, placing parental rights at the top of the priority list in Tennessee. This is not experimental or novel language; these words are tried and true in the other states that have enacted them.

HB 2936 also clarifies and strengthens the general rule that healthcare providers may not render medical care, surgical care, drugs, psychological services, or counseling to children without parental consent—with appropriate exceptions for emergencies or other special situations.

Because parents know and love their children best, the government’s role is to defer to parents except in extraordinary cases. As demonstrated above, that is not what is currently happening in Tennessee.

In 2013, the Tennessee Supreme Court had this to say in Lovlace v. Copley: “A parent’s right to the care and custody of his or her child is among the oldest of the judicially recognized liberty interests.” By passing HB 2936, the General Assembly can do its part to ensure parental rights are prioritized in Tennessee.

Sources:

1. Houston High School Mustang Theatre – Germantown TN, Here is our Chicago: Teen Edition Audition form link, Facebook (October 18, 2022), https://www.facebook.com/houstonhightheatre/posts/pfbid0gGu3i67j5BuAv7RMsjPouci1ARABJxUECUX3JTYqtScwQB7mozG9UMKXTSj7MNtrl. The Google Form has since been made viewable only “by users in the owner’s organization.” https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSel0xNgU0V7D59P2zIabOVRTCTMZtPegqdzRDEyjMqKmEQODw/formrestricted.
2. Staff Report, Houston High Accused of Using Theater Program to Push LGBT Agenda, KWAM (October 8, 2023), https://mighty990.com/houston-high-accused-of-using-theater-program-to-embrace-lgbt-agenda/.
3. Paula Gomes, Parental Rights Discussion at School Board Meeting Taken as Attack On “Queer Kids” by Pro-LGBTQ Residents, The Tennessee Conservative (July 12, 2023), https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/parental-rights-discussion-at-school-board-meeting-taken-as-attack-on-queer-kids-by-pro-lgbtq-residents/.
4. Wilson County Democratic Party, Facebook (July 7, 2023) https://www.facebook.com/wilsondemocrats/posts/pfbid032WFV6L6A3ZqA7XCnWZZ5DGvwtRUPnonM59SHnP4rzJtvhv36qeUbuuLDAGjHHuzZl.
5. Board of Education Meeting, Agenda Item 11.3 Joe Padilla – Parental Rights, Wilson County Schools (July 10, 2023), https://wilsoncountyschoolstn.new.swagit.com/videos/264063, (2:42:58–2:48:35, Comments of Member Beth Meyers).
6.  Id. at (2:55:40–2:58:52, Comments of WCS Superintendent Jeff Luttrell).
7. 418 S.W.3d 1, 30 (Tenn. 2013).