‘Parental rights for whom?’ WaPo columnist attacks ‘rabble-rousing’ parents over school issues

MSNBC host and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart appeared on Friday’s "PBS Newshour" to criticize House Republicans for their parents rights and education bill. 

As the House successfully passed a national Parents Bill of Rights legislation with zero Democratic votes, Capehart discussed the growing issue of education, specifically what the GOP means when it refers to "parental rights."

"Well, to me, when I hear parental rights, I keep thinking, what happened to the PTA, parent-teachers associations? Why, all of a sudden, is this an issue?" Capehart said. "And I think it's an issue, given who they're targeting, because they need a foil. The far right needs a foil. That's not to say that parents don't have concerns about what their kids are learning in classrooms. It just seems like, from Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida, to Governor Huckabee in Arkansas, to the Republican-led House of Representatives, it seems like they have a problem specifically with trans kids."

He continued, "And what I have a problem with is that the party of life, the party of respect for family and individual freedom has no problem putting a target on the backs of trans kids and their families. And so, when I hear parental rights, I think parental rights for whom?"

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The Parents Bill of Rights followed sweeping legislation in states like Florida and Arizona regarding education. Most notably, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill  into law of last year which barred teachers for giving classroom instruction over "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" from kindergarten through third grade.

Capehart viewed this law as well as the national bill as attacks against transgender children simply because they make "people feel uncomfortable."

"But just because you're uncomfortable doesn't mean that you then target what makes you uncomfortable. And by target, you're targeting kids. You're targeting the families of those kids, making it impossible for them to get health care in their own home state, making it almost impossible for them to go out of state, criminalizing, in some cases, going out of state to get care," he said.

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Although the Parents Bill of Rights passed the House of Representatives, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised the bill "will not see the light of day" in the Senate, calling it "Orwellian to the core."

In the meantime, Capehart urged pushback against the GOP as well as the "rabble-rousing" parents who support their legislation.

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"And so I think what needs to happen is that people need to — those really concerned parents, not only do they need to keep rising up. They need allies to rise up with them to add to their numbers, because there are more people who care about those children and care about their education than the rabble-rousing parents who are putting the targets on their backs," Capehart said.