As Kennedy Points Out Porn, Democrats Mock Parental Rights Efforts
Video of Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) went viral on X Tuesday when he read pornographic excerpts from “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Gender Queer,” which are intended for children, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The hearing was called “Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature.” The title of the hearing itself reveals the Democratic majority’s anti-parent/Big Government bias: the Marxist/Democratic witnesses believe that librarians and teachers are “experts” on literature whereas parents are uneducated and can “get in the way” of their teaching children LGBTQ+/gender theory, critical race theory, and other worldviews.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias was one of the Democrats’ witnesses. He defended his state’s new law, HB 2789, which prohibits public libraries from removing controversial books from shelves. (Illinois is the first state to pass such a law.) After Senator Kennedy read the passages (which television news channels had to censor), Giannoulias condescendingly responded, “With all due respect, senator, the words you spoke are disturbing, especially coming out of your mouth, it’s very disturbing. But I would also tell you that we’re not advocating for kids to read porn.”
A spokesperson for Senator Kennedy wrote to Newsweek, “Those demonizing parents for trying to protect the innocence of their children ought to be ashamed for defending explicitly sexual images and scenes in books that 10-year-olds have access to. Parents aren’t concerned about ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ — they’re worried that their children are being indoctrinated by radicals who think that exposing young students to pornographic material is what’s best for their kids. Even today’s Democratic witness admits the content activists want kept in schools is ‘disturbing.’”
Thankfully, president of Parents Defending Education and friend of Family Research Council, Nicole Neily, also testified at the hearing yesterday. She described how Democrats and the mainstream media vilify involved and concerned parents:
“[T]oday, merely suggesting that graphic novels which detail sexual poses not be made available to elementary-aged students is tantamount to endorsing a totalitarian regime. In February 2023, The Guardian asserted ‘Banning ideas and authors is not a “culture war” — it’s fascism …’
“[F]amilies from coast to coast are now considered adversaries, not even entitled to basic information about their children. In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a school district gave teachers a training session which stated ‘parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned.’ My organization, Parents Defending Education, has documented 1,042 districts across the country — and counting — that maintain ‘parental exclusion policies’ which state that families don’t even have a right to know their child’s gender identity in their taxpayer-funded public school …
“Please stop mocking parents. Please stop name-calling. Please listen to the concerns of families who want their children to learn basic grammar, rather than be policed on pronouns — who want their children to learn to read at grade level, and not taken out of class to participate in political rallies that they do not fully understand — who want their young children’s innocence to be preserved for a few years longer than an activist academic might insist.
“We are your constituents too.”
