Virginia Democrats are fighting not only to keep sexually explicit materials in public schools but also to kill a bill that would require school boards to notify parents of sexually explicit materials being introduced.
Maintaining the ideology behind former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s campaign-ending gaffe saying, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” Virginia Senate President Louise Lucas (D) said, “when it comes to what’s in the curriculum, that should be left to the school boards and to the boards of education. And if a parent wants to opt out, I think they should have the right to do that.”
The bill before the Virginia General Assembly would provide an avenue for “parental involvement” and a “reasonable opportunity for public comment” on printed and audiovisual materials available in school libraries, “mandatory prior written parental consent” before a student can check out such material, and “the removal from the school library of any such printed or audiovisual materials that could be considered grooming video or materials.”
While Lucas has promised a Senate “brick firewall” for Republican legislation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said, “I want to give parents the right to be informed before their child is exposed to sexually explicit materials,” asking the legislature to send him a similar bill passed in 2017 for his signature.
