Whose Children Are They?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns parental rights regarding the gender identity of their children. California parents, along with parents nationwide, are fighting to keep communication open with their children. In reality, they are fighting to draw a legal line between the overreach of school districts and other government organizations and sanctity of the family, as defined by one of the parents. 

There are 944 school districts in California, but only five of them have affirmed the rights of parents to know if their child is identifying of a different sex. The latest school district to win the battle was the Rocklin Unified School District not far from the capital of California. The other four school districts are Chino Valley, Murrieta Valley Unified School District (Riverside County), Temecula Valley Unified School District (Riverside County, and Anderson Union High School District (Shasta County). A vote on a similar policy is scheduled in the Orange Unified School District for Thursday evening.

The policy in the Rocklin Unified School District requires “teachers to notify parents if their children begin to identify as a member of another sex.” According to the regulation, “schools must contact parents within three school days if their child requests to use a name, pronouns, or sex-segregated facilities ‘that do not align with the child’s biological sex.’” In addition, the gender identity of a student will stay confidential to all people “except the student and their parent(s).” The trustees for the Rocklin school indicated that they trust the parents to know best what their children need.

“We trust our parents to know what is best for their children. We believe that the best way to address these challenges is together, with open communication and clear expectations. The board’s action to strengthen parental notification and communication reinforces our commitment to include parents in school activities and decisions related to their child.”

The trustees stated that the goal for the new regulation is “strengthening the relationship between our staff, students, and family.” “Hundreds of people” attended the “six- and-a-half-hour meeting” with “more than four hours of public comments.” Not all of the attendees had concern for children and families at heart.

One LGBTQ activist proclaimed, “This policy is violent…. You are waging war, and we will not take it quietly…. We’ll shame you in public! … Take our kids’ futures and we’ll take your livelihood!” When RUSD Board President Julie Hupp replied that threats would not work with the board members, the activist said, “It’s not a threat. It’s a promise!”

Some teachers were dispensing rainbow ribbons to show that they oppose the new regulation. Parents pleaded with those teachers to support parental rights with one saying, “Please support parental rights. Basic safeguarding of children means not keeping secrets from parents.”

Opponents of the regulation made it clear that the fight is not over.

More than a dozen years ago, Sister Julie B. Beck, then-Relief Society General President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, discussed the key points of the doctrine of the family as taught in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” She also discussed the increasing threats to the family unit.

In addition to understanding the theology of the family, we all need to understand the threats to the family. If we don’t, we can’t prepare for the battle. Evidence is all around us that the family is becoming less important. Marriage rates are declining, the age of marriage is rising, and divorce rates are rising. Out-of-wedlock births are growing. Abortion is rising and becoming increasingly legal. We see lower birth rates. We see unequal relationships between men and women, and we see cultures that still practice abuse within family relationships. Many times a career gains importance over the family.

Many of our youth are losing confidence in the institution of families. They’re placing more and more value on education and less and less importance on forming an eternal family. Many don’t see forming families as a faith-based work. For them, it’s a selection process much like shopping. Many also distrust their own moral strength and the moral strength of their peers. Because temptations are so fierce, many are not sure they can be successful in keeping covenants.

Many youth also have insufficient and underdeveloped social skills, which are an impediment to forming eternal families. They are increasingly adept at talking to someone 50 miles (80 km) away and less able to carry on conversations with people in the same room. That makes it difficult for them to socialize with each other.

We also face the problem that we read about in Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Public policies are being made every day that are antifamily, and the definition of family is changing legally around the world. Pornography is rampant. For those who create pornography, their new target audience is young women. Parents are being portrayed as inept and out of touch. Antifamily media messages are everywhere. Youth are being desensitized about the need to form eternal families. (Emphasis added.)

We see how this can happen when we read the words of Korihor, an anti-Christ: “Thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms” (Alma 30:18). Satan knows that he will never have a body; he will never have a family. So he targets young women, who will create the bodies for the future generations.

Korihor was an anti-Christ. Anti-Christ is antifamily. Any doctrine or principle our youth hear from the world that is antifamily is also anti-Christ. It’s that clear. If our youth cease to believe in the righteous traditions of their fathers as did the people described in Mosiah 26, if our youth don’t understand their part in the plan, they could be led away. (Emphasis added.)

Any individual, organization, policy, or program that seeks to destroy the family is anti-Christ. Anti-Christ means evil. The people who put themselves between parents and their children are evil and do not have the wellbeing of the child in their minds and hearts.