If conservative Reps. Jamie Allard and Tom McKay were hoping for a groundswell of support for the governor’s “parents’ rights” bill, then Thursday night’s nearly five-hour-long public testimony session had to be a big disappointment.
There are varying final tallies, but they all agree more than 100 people opposed the legislation and just a few more than a dozen testified in support. The Republican representatives’ plan to front-load testimony with supporters who could be there in person—a significant complaint of theirs when after they heard a wave of support for increasing school funding—didn’t work out either, as the meeting room was packed with a diverse group of Alaskans all opposed to the legislation.
In fact, it took nearly 90 minutes for the committee to hear its first comment supporting the legislation that would dictate who can use which bathrooms, how teachers talk about sex or gender (if ever), and how students are allowed to identify. It would also put teachers in an impossible position of being forced to relay to parents any and all information a student might confide in them, potentially outing students and putting them at risk. All while inviting parents to sue schools and districts.
The committee heard from a broad range of people, including students, parents, teachers, members of the LGBTQ+ community, allies and people who just don’t think policing children to this extent is a worthwhile use of the state’s time and resources.
“I just think it’s really wrong because everyone should have the right of who they are,” said one young girl. “It doesn’t matter what private part they have; it’s who they are from the heart. That’s who they are, and they should be supported for who they are.”
Several teachers opposed the legislation, like Juneau teacher Meagan Hinton who said it’s creating an issue where there isn’t one.
“At the school, it is not an issue; you are making it an issue,” she told the committee. “The governor is making it an issue. Kids have enough to figure out on their own; they don’t need other people telling them what they’re doing is wrong when what they’re doing is expressing themselves as an individual.”
“I would ask you guys to respect the rights of those people that are just looking for common decency,” said another teacher David Brighton.
Others shared their accounts of growing up being abused, not having the language or knowledge to express what was happening and only learning much later in life that what had happened to them was abuse. They were particularly critical of how the governor’s legislation would reclassify the teen dating violence awareness program, Bree’s Law, and the sexual abuse awareness program, Erin’s Law, would be reclassified as sex education. That’d mean both programs would become opt-in and, critically, that Erin’s Law—which teaches children age-appropriate information to prevent and identify sexual abuse—would be barred from being introduced to young children.
“It lets rapists be rapists,” one testifier said.
The parents of Bree Moore, whose murder led to the creation of the teen dating violence awareness program, called in to oppose the measure. Cindy and Butch Moore both said the legislation would undermine the goal of the programs.
“I can’t imagine why anybody would not want their children to learn about healthy relationships or learn how to protect themselves against sexual assault and abuse. I’m extremely confused,” Cindy Moore said, asking they remove the sections reclassifying the two programs. She also went on to say she understood the motivation behind the rest of the bill but that it needed better balance. “I believe in parental rights, but I also believe in the rights of our youth, and I feel like we can’t give parents 100% of the rights and give our youth 0% of the rights. I think there’s a balance there.”
The comments supporting the legislation were riddled with the same kind of fear tactics and otherization that have primarily fueled the right-wing culture war.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
