It really can happen here
Making Sense by Michael Reagan
Almost a hundred years ago the great American author Sinclair Lewis wrote a political novel called “It Can’t Happen Here.”
The 1935 book was a warning that what was happening then in Europe – the rise of fascism and Nazism – could come to America in the form of a Hitler-type politician who gets elected and then becomes a dictator.
Though the power of the federal government has grown enormously since FDR’s days, we never became a totalitarian country like the fictional one Lewis imagined.
But out here in California, where parents, public schools and the state government are fighting over who has the ultimate control of children, we’re starting to resemble a country from the old evil Soviet empire.
In the latest court case, a judge ruled that the Chino Valley Unified School District has to delay the enforcement of its new policy that requires its schools to notify parents if their child indicates that they identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming.
The case, which is on its way to higher levels of the state court system, has been described in the Los Angeles Times as a fight “pitting parental rights and student privacy rights.”
The school district’s lawyers argue – sensibly – that the parents of a student who identifies as transgender should be involved in any discussion of gender-related issues.
The lawyers in the state’s attorney general’s office, however, argue against immediate parental involvement.
They say vulnerable kids who are questioning their gender identity need time to get emotionally ready before they talk to their parents, and that school teachers can help the process.
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Copyright 2023 Michael Reagan, All Rights Reserved. Credit: Cagle.com
