‘Santa’s Husband’? Lawmakers accuse school of openly violating parental rights law
Actions were ‘a coordinated middle finger to the legislature and every parent in your district’
A lawmaker in North Carolina has accused a school district of deliberately and openly violating a parental rights law adopted in the state.
The clash erupted when officials with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School district were summoned by lawmakers to answer questions.
They were accused of implementing as policy the new rights law, “but intentionally” leaving out “sections dealing with classroom instruction on gender identity and the parental-notification requirement for name or pronoun changes,” according to WRAL.
It was Fox News that documented the position of state House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, a Republican from Columbus.
“You’re here today because you chose to wage war against the law. You chose to deceive the public, and now you’re here because you got caught,” Jones said. “This wasn’t passive resistance. It was a coordinated middle finger to this legislature and every parent in your district.”
Jones held up books he said the district promoted, including “Santa’s Husband,” the “true story of Mr. and Mr. Claus,” featuring a black Santa and his white husband.
“He also read from the book, ‘These Are My Eyes, This Is My Nose, This Is My Vulva, These Are My Toes,’ including a passage saying ‘some boys have a penis but not all boys do,'” the report said.
At one point, some of the disputed books ended up being thrown down, by lawmakers.
School officials were grilled over their compliance, which they claimed was fully effective, with the Parents’ Bill of Rights, Senate Bill 49, which “bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through fourth grade in public schools, requires schools to notify parents about health services, well-being changes and any requested changes to a child’s name or pronouns, and gives parents the right to review materials and opt in or out of sex-related instruction,” the report said.
School Board Chair George Griffin and Superintendent Rodney Trice said in written comments the district is in compliance.
But lawmakers pointed to Griffin’s prior comments that the bill is “discriminatory” as well as his suggestion it need not be followed.
The report noted Jones also grilled school officials about “It Isn’t Rude to Be Nude,” which he said is rated for very young children and features cartoon drawings of nude adults.
He called it “soft porn.”
Jones added, in a statement to Fox, “The school district’s attempts to conceal the filth they’re peddling to children just further goes to show how egregious their actions are. Rather than admit fault, they spent this morning trying to dodge backlash, spinning the narrative after they got caught violating the same laws they bragged about breaking earlier this year. Their website has a recommended reading section found under their LGBTQ Elementary Resources page that directly links kids to a resource that not only includes, but recommends the filth we called them to answer for. That fact is undisputed. If Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is so ashamed of the books they’re recommending to children, they should just own up to it and take down the links.”
