On Parental Rights

It's not a thing.

Well, legally it's not. There are no "parental rights" section of the charter to defend. It's a thing as in it's a dogwhistle to see how many are on board with discrimination and preventing kids from growing up to be who they are, in a method just shy of conversion camps. Parents don't actually have the right to override their child's choice of pronouns or name, as is well explained by Cyril Cinder:

@cyrilcinder

uuuugggghhhhh... Really? the day after Capital Pride?

♬ original sound - Cyril Cinder

So far Lecce has just stated his belief that parents should be involved in any change of name or pronoun. I believe that's ideal as well. But it's not a parents right. Parents can't demand to override the rights of their children, which include the rights to privacy. 

Parents can, however, kick their kids out of the house, emotionally abuse them, hit them if they're under 18 (still no anti-spanking laws on the books), and otherwise make their lives miserable if somehow the parents have come to value the views of the new conservative cult over their own child's happiness and well-being. 

So if teachers start outing trans kids to their parents, that's what the result could be. 

Likely will be.

Kids often have a pretty good sense of what their parents will do with information shared. It's not 100%, so some kids are pleasantly surprised. But kids need to come out to their parents in a way that feels safe for them. 

I said more last June (including the story of my son changing his name in grade 3 without my knowledge), but if feels like it needs to be said again, for obvious reasons.

Also check out Lisa B0923's take:

@lisab0923 #greenscreen #stephenlecce #ontarioeducation #curriculum #pronouns #parentalrights #schools #dougford #conservativegovernment #children #2slgbtqia #transkids #protectthechildren #childrensrights #parentalrights #ontario #canada #canpolitt #bigots #everydamnday #stopthespread ♬ original sound - Lisa

Also be aware of what makes it all a dogwhistle. The Washington Post did a great job with this one, tracing the path from parents' right to privatization:

"Michael Farris--a conservative Christian lawyer who is the most influential leader of the modern home-schooling movement--had toiled at the margins of American politics. . . . The ideology has has long championed has moved from the partisan fringe to the center of the nation's bitter debates over public education. . . . Farris began his career [in the 1980s] . . . representing Christian parents who objected to 'Rumpelstilskin' being read in class. . . . No single figure has been more instrumental in transforming the parental rights cause from an obscure concern of Christian home-schoolers into a GOP rallying cry. . . . He has masterfully imported an extreme religious agenda into the heart of the nation's politics through the seemingly unobjectionable language of parents' rights. . . . 

[Even in a private Christian school] they became concerned their daughter was being unduly influenced by other 6-year-olds. . . . Farris said he doesn't believe that parents should have the right to help children transition to a different gender. 'Parents who engage in a behavior that causes long-term harm to their children--that crosses the barrier of what parental rights protects,' he said. The best way to accommodate different dieas about how schools should handle such issues is to give parents as much choice as possible in how their kids are educated through universal voucher programs. . . . 'Our goal is to take down the education system as we know it today.'"

Also recognize that the anti-mask agenda serves the same purpose. It creates yet another group of parents, those hoping for safe schools, to have to seek other options if they can't homeschool. 

Here's another example of the rights of kids to own their own name (click the image for clarity):

Sorry for the swears in this one: