|
 |
Powell Supports ‘The Promise to America’s Children’
COLUMBUS – State Rep. Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) today signed her support
to The Promise to America’s Children, a collaborative effort between
the Family Policy Alliance, The Heritage Foundation, and Alliance
Defending Freedom that outlines 10 guiding principles to protect
children in America.
The goal of the initiative is to rally support for legislation that promotes pro-family and pro-religious freedom policy.
“In today’s age, our children are constantly exposed to explicit, adult
content through social media, entertainment, cultural forces, and
oftentimes, our own government,” said Powell. “We have a collective
responsibility to protect the health, privacy, safety, and
relationships of children in America.”
Below are the 10 guiding principles for The Promise to America’s Children:
1. Every child deserves to be protected from being used in or exposed
to pornography, graphic sexual content or activities as well as from
being exposed to it in media and on the Internet.
2. Every child deserves an education that is suited for their specific
needs and development as guided by their parents, including free from
graphic sexual curriculum or content, the promotion of abortion, and
politicized ideas about sexual orientation and gender identity. To
protect this right, all public school sexual education programs should
be opt-in, voluntarily chosen by parents. A general opt-out should be
provided for other sensitive topics that families do not believe is
appropriate for their children. Parents should have the right to review
all curriculum, reading materials, teacher’s guides, and computer
programs or apps.
3. Every child deserves the right to free speech, to either speak or
not speak and to affirm or not affirm messages or ideas that violate
their beliefs or conscience.
4. Every child deserves the opportunity to be guided and supported in
making the healthiest decisions for their current and future physical,
mental, emotional, social and spiritual health, including obtaining
counseling that the parents determine is safe, appropriate, and in the
child’s best interest, without government interference that excludes
parents or exhibits a bias based on beliefs about sexuality, sexual
orientation, or gender identity.
5. Every child deserves safety and privacy in sex-specific spaces such
as locker rooms, showers, and restrooms at schools and other
federally-funded public facilities.
6. Every child deserves the opportunity to participate in fair and safe
athletic competitions. Female athletes should not be forced to compete
against biological males who identify as female in sports competitions
intended for females.
7. Every child deserves the opportunity to be affirmed and in their
genetically-determined sex, and to be supported as they mature through
puberty and other normal adolescent changes that shape their maturity
and reproductive capacity. Gender reassignment medical treatments
(including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sterilizing
surgeries) are neither natural nor healthy, and should not be permitted
on minors.
8. Every child deserves a “forever family.” Authorities should not
limit or reduce the pool of foster or adoptive parents by forcing
either child welfare agencies or prospective adoptive or foster care
parents to violate their moral or religious beliefs, including the
belief that every child deserves a mother and a father.
9. Every child deserves a relationship with their mother and father. No
child should be taken from their parents over disagreements between
their parents and the state about sexual orientation/gender identity
counseling, therapy, or medical procedures.
10. Every child deserves to have their parents informed of and involved
in important life decisions. Authority figures (including teachers,
counselors, or medical professionals) should not withhold information
about a child’s sexual activity, development, or identity from parents
or take any action that undermines the parents’ role in guiding the
child in these areas. Nor should authority figures encourage or coerce
a child to withhold information about important life decisions from the
parent.
|
|
|
|
