Protesters for parental rights in schools took over a section of downtown Los Angeles and blocked a tunnel on Tuesday. Nearly 200 people rallied against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s radical educational agenda.
Interestingly, they were met by a mob of leftist protesters. Exactly who is against parents having rights over their children’s education and defending them from inappropriate material?
The protesters called for the Los Angeles Unified School District to adopt parental notification requirements similarly to other area districts. This would mean parents would be notified if their child changes their name or gender identity at school.
Those opposed to California’s overreach wore shirts emblazoned with “Leave Our Kids Alone,” which is also the name of the Instagram group that organized the gathering. On video footage of the protest many can be heard chanting, “We don’t co-parent with Newsom.”
The organizers’ social media page urged supporters to gather and begin the rally at Los Angeles City Hall. It asked Golden State parents to “stand united and rally for our kids.”
The post continued, “Whether it’s the school boards or Sacramento in their attempts to indoctrinate kids and separate them from families.”
Los Ángeles, CA –
Large crowd of parents marched from City Hall to LAUSD HQ to protest LGBT+ school curriculum for minors, and state bills stripping parental rights.
“Newsom has declared WAR on our kids” pic.twitter.com/6Ey1MFK7Za
— Anthony Cabassa (@AnthonyCabassa_) August 22, 2023
The presence of counterprotesters led to confrontations between the two sides. Police ultimately declared an unlawful assembly and arrested two at the scene.
One rally speaker proclaimed the demonstration “is not about gay or trans people. It is about the public school education telling me, you as a parent, what they’re going to teach our children.”
Another protester pushed back at the leftist narrative that the parents are “against the gay and lesbian community or families.” They said that everyone should be free to live their lives as they choose, but they drew the line at indoctrinating their children.
They criticized the school system where “an agenda [is] shoved down our throats that goes against our God-given parents’ values, morals and traditions.”
The state took an active role against systems that adopted policies for notifying parents of their children’s “transitioning.” Earlier in August, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he would investigate the Chino Valley Unified School District.
This system, roughly 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, implemented a parental notification policy that Bonta believes violates students’ civil rights. The AG also leveled criticism at the Murrieta Valley School Board for enacting a similar policy.
