LANDMARK Parental Rights Case Hits SUPREME COURT
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Summary
Dr. Grace Morrison is a Catholic mother, a dental surgeon, and a pro-life warrior. With her attorney, Will Hahn, from the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, she joins us to talk about the fight for parental rights in a case now heading to the Supreme Court.
Transcript
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It is not just that they're reading these books with this content that is so inappropriate
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for children. It's that there is discussion that goes with it.
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Hello, my friends, and welcome. Tonight, a story that cuts right to the heart of what it means to
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be a parent in America and a Catholic parent in a culture that is rapidly losing its mind.
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Imagine this. You raise your children in the faith. You teach them truth. You sacrifice. You pray.
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You live your life with integrity. Two of your sons become Catholic priests, and a third is in seminary,
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and as a family, you dedicate yourselves to defending life, standing up to one of the nation's
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most notorious late-term abortionists, and building a culture of life in one of the most
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ideologically aggressive parts of the country. Now imagine that same family, deeply faithful,
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incredibly accomplished, is having to engage in massive legal battles simply because they believe
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parents should be able to opt out their children from books in public schools that promote
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transgenderism, same-sex romance, gender confusion, to kindergartners. Books that aren't just confusing,
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they're spiritually corrosive, sexually charged, and in many cases, outright propaganda.
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That family is the Morrison family. Dr. Grace Morrison is a Catholic mother, a dental surgeon,
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and a pro-life warrior. With us tonight, alongside her attorney, Will Hahn, from the Beckett Fund for
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Religious Liberty, she joins us to talk about the fight for parental rights in Maryland, a case now
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heading to the United States Supreme Court. This isn't just about Montgomery County. It's about whether
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you, as a parent, have any say at all in how your children are formed, whether you get to opt out,
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or whether your kids belong to the state. Grace Morrison and Will Hahn, so good to be with you
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both. So good to be with you. Good to be with you. Let's begin, as you always do, with the sign of the
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cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. So Grace, you and your
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husband are amazing Catholic parents. You've been really outspoken leaders in the pro-life world,
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in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Tell us a little bit about your family. I don't want to
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spoil it for everybody, but when I heard about your family, I was just blown away, and that really
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sparked the need to have you on the show. So tell us about your family. My husband and I, we have
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seven children. We have six children by birth. Our oldest is in his 30s, and youngest is in college
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at Franciscan University in Ohio. And then we adopted a daughter from Ukraine when she was an
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infant, and she's now 12 years old. And that is how we became involved in the case that has now gone to
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the Supreme Court, because she was in the public school system since she was a child. Our oldest
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children, we primarily homeschooled them. The oldest ones were in the private school,
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in a parochial school for a few years, and then we homeschooled. You know, they've remained faithful.
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We raised them in the Catholic faith. And again, that's why this lawsuit has been so, so important
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to us, to be able to continue that for our youngest daughter. But our older children, we did homeschool
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them. Our oldest two sons are now priests in the Archdiocese of Washington, diocesan priests. Our
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daughter is a nurse practitioner and happily married and mother of two children, our grandchildren. And
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then we have a son who, God willing, will be ordained also a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington.
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So one of the reasons why I had to talk to you was, I've got eight children, a lot of big families
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who watch LifeSite. And we all kind of wonder, how do you get a priest? You know, I've got six
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boys. I always said, you know, Lord, you can have six priests if you want, but one would be really
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good. So you're on your third now. What's the magic saucer of what are you guys doing?
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I would say a big part of it is, of course, God's mercy. It really is. I think we were from,
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in a very anointed time in our Catholic homeschooling community where our family is not unique and that
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there are other families with multiple vocations that came from our homeschooling community. I really
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believe that it's what the Lord needed for these times. And we just taught them to be generous to
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whatever God was calling them to and be the best way that I would say that we could explain it. We,
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you know, expose them to all vocations. We let them see that priesthood and religious life,
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like married life, it can be very joyful and happy and just to be generous with the Lord.
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I think that's the way that it kind of came about in our family. We taught them that the saints
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were, were the heroes. So their lives inspired them and made them courageous, I believe too.
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Beautiful. One of the things I read about families that practice the faith and have their children
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practice the faith after them, a couple of findings, which totally, I think apply in your life,
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but the one I want to get to one is the dad's faith, but the second one, and the one I want to get
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to is activism, actual work. And for pro-lifers, it's obvious. And you guys were huge activists in
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the pro-life community. Tell us about that. Yeah, we heard about the infamous late-term abortionist,
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Leroy Carhart, who came to our, our community. And it was honestly, my children who, you know,
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we were homeschooling and we knew that late-term abortions were taking place that they began on
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Monday mornings, and then they would continue and complete the process like three days later. So we
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knew the important time to be out there was Mondays. And it was really my children that said,
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you know, before we start our school day, let's go and pray. And that's really how it happened.
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And when we really saw the, what was happening with these women, and most of them, even children
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that were going in to have late-term abortions, we kind of helped wake up the community and wake up
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our parish. And it's really our parish that became very involved. I would say hundreds from the parish
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were out there. And we were out there for seven years at Faithfully every single week.
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We did have, that we know of, over 400 moms who chose life. We got to see these moms, see these
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babies, be at their birthday parties, baptisms. It was quite a beautiful work of the Lord. He really
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blessed it. Then eventually the abortionists left, went somewhere, went into Bethesda. And so our work
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was kind of done in our community and many continued on in Bethesda, but that's sort of how it came
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about. And it was a very slow listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit of how to carry this
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out and listening to the Lord. As this was unfolding, when this starts, you and your husband,
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you're reflecting on what's happening. You're doing this for seven years. So this has become part of
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your lives. Did you question what you were doing? Did you see an effect in your kids? How did that play out?
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Well, I think that for one, we absolutely saw the fruit of it. We saw just an amazing amount of
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people who became involved. It was beautiful to see the youth becoming involved and quite amazing to
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see how many of the youth that were out there went on to do work in other ministries because of being out
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there and many in the pro-life ministry, some in the pro-life work in EWTN. There were youth out there
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that then also entered the priesthood and religious life. So I do think that it gave them courage to
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kind of stand in these times. So yes, it was a part of homeschool education that I didn't expect,
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but I think you're right. You're onto something that it did help to form them and make them
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may God bless you. Now, Grace, you're part of a court case now dealing with the right of parents
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in Montgomery County, Maryland, where you and your family reside to opt out of their K-12 public school,
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your public school children from reading controversial LGBTQ plus books that promote
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a one-sided message about trans ideology, encourage gender transitioning, and promote
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sort of same-sex romance. First of all, have you personally reviewed these books yourself?
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And what's your take on them? Can you describe what you saw, what you found?
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I was very shocked by them. Our daughter has special needs. She's a child with Down syndrome.
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And we had her involved in the public school system since she was three. And she was thriving,
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doing very well. So she was 10 years old when these books started to be introduced. She was probably
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actually nine, but by 10, I became aware of it. I was actually walking down to going on a walk. I had
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just finished homeschooling my son, who would have been the last child I was homeschooling,
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having a little victory walk after like 21 years of homeschooling. And the neighbor said,
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what are you going to do about the books? And as I was walking, I felt that little nudge of the Holy
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Spirit saying, you're not done homeschooling. I was like, what books?
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And so then I quickly went and started to investigate what was going on and found out that
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in fact, Montgomery County had decided that they were introducing these books. And originally there
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was an opt-out and notification in place, and they made an overnight raise and decision that they were
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removing the opt-out parental rights, and they were not going to notify us. So I did start to look at
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these books and they were, I was astounded that they would be presenting these materials to three,
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four, five, you know, elementary school children, where one of the books is called Pride Puppy. And this
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was one that was going to be presented, was presented in my daughter's class, but I kept her home because
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by the grace of God, I sound out. So I did feel like that was a blessing and a protection.
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But it goes through the alphabet where it's basically a family of two moms and some children
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going to a pride parade, and they have them go through the alphabet. Well, some of the things that
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they are having them identify and look for are, you know, U is for underwear, L is for leather.
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They talked about a very controversial LGBTQ trans person who I believe is maybe no longer living,
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but having to identify this person at the parade. So these are little tiny children. So, so,
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so disruptive to their minds and hearts. And then there was a book about a little child, like My
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Rainbow, I believe it's called, where it was a little boy who was probably in the book about five
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years old, decided he wanted to be or felt that he was supposed to be a girl and how the whole family
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embraced this and then ended up making him a rainbow wig and that he was now a girl. And in the
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book, they talk about how this doesn't, this change does not need to make sense. John Henry,
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I'd like to have your viewers understand too, it is not just that they're reading these books with
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this content that is so sensitive and inappropriate for children. It's that there is discussion that goes
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with it. It was embedded in what's called the language arts class. And this is in my daughter's
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special needs classroom in her language arts class. So there was discussion that followed,
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but the teachers and the schools would not let us know what the lesson plan is that goes along even
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with the book. So it was one thing that this content is so inappropriate and another that they were,
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the teachers were instructed, and this is in, which Will can, you know, fill you in on,
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it's in the documents of the case, that the teachers were instructed to advocate for this gender
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ideology. So it wasn't that they were remaining neutral. It was advocating for this too.
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So it's full on indoctrination and the parents aren't to have an opt-out. Is that even legal?
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No, it's not legal. And that's why we're at the U.S. Supreme Court. And it really is extraordinary.
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Montgomery County had allowed opt-outs to these books initially, just like they allow opt-outs
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to everything in their curriculum, Halloween parties, Valentine's Day, band class. You can get
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alternative reading assignments in some cases. And like I said, initially, you could even get
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opt-outs as to these books. But then as Grace pointed out without any public explanation in March
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of 2023, the rug was just pulled out from underneath the parents. And going forward, they wouldn't even
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be told when these books would be read. And as Grace also pointed out, that was for a reason. It's not
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because the children are just learning literacy, as the board is now trying to tell the Supreme Court are
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helping with sentence structure, as it's also said in court. What was actually told to the teachers
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by the board is that the goal of these books is to disrupt a child's either-or thinking on sex and
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gender. The board said that twice. The goal with these books are to rewrite the norms, as one book
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says, around sex and gender. It's not just the parents that called this out. The board's own elementary
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school principals circulated a memo that said, look, if you put these books into the curriculum,
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you're going to be forcing our teachers to shame children who disagree with the content of the
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books. You're going to be dismissive of their religious beliefs. You're going to have our
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teachers state things as facts that many don't believe are facts. And you're going to be cutting
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out the parents. And nevertheless, the board forged ahead. And the goal really is compelled instruction
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here. I mean, one of the other directives that's given with a book that's also discussed called
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Born Ready, the Story of a Boy Named Penelope, is if a child were to raise his or her hand in the class
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upon reading that book and say, I thought if you're born a boy, you're a boy. And if you're born a girl,
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you're a girl. The teachers encouraged by the board to respond with those kinds of comments are hurtful,
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and that we don't say such things. And that when you're born, doctors are just making a guess
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about who you are, and that nobody really knows for sure. Only you know inside. The idea that this
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is anything but compelled instruction that's pressuring families to choose between the religious
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upbringing of their children and foregoing public education is just not accurate. It is the point.
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The pressure is the point. This is so bizarre that it almost seems unreal. And this is already at the
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stage of the Supreme Court. How in the world could it get to the Supreme Court? What happened in lower
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courts? And secondly, who is behind this? Because this seems so crazy. Is there a person aboard? What is
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this doing this? Yeah, so we are at the U.S. Supreme Court. We got here because unfortunately, for the past
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50 years, lower courts, like the ones that ruled against the families here below, have generally
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said that when you drop your kids off at public school, you lose your rights as parents. And the
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board has played into that in a way that's even more extreme than those holdings. Because what they
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have done here is they have actually taken material that has long been understood in our country to be
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something that parents can know about and opt their children out from, which is to say, instruction on
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anything related to human sexuality and gender identity. 47 out of 50 states have opt out
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specifically on that area. Montgomery County and Maryland all did until this case. And what they
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have said is that, well, we can just relabel all that instruction English language arts and get around
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the national consensus. So this is even more extreme than what is frankly a misinterpretation of what
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the law has been up to this point. And the law up to this point at the Supreme Court level has always
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been, as it was for centuries in our tradition, that parents have the right to direct their children's
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religious upbringing. Because parents are the first teachers, because the family, as your audience
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knows, is the first society. And so we are going to vindicate the right for parents to get back their
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notice and opt out rights. That's ultimately what this case is about. We're not challenging the presence of
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the books in the curriculum. We're not asking the board to adopt a new curriculum. We're simply asking
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them to restore the rights that they took away from the parents without any public explanation or any good
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reason. Why do you think the Montgomery County School Board is so obstinate, is so just unbelievably
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pushing this when it comes to pushing all the kids to be exposed to trans and homosexuality? Do they actually
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have an agenda themselves? It's really unfortunate. There have been some very unfortunate
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statements made in this case where county officials have accused some of our parents,
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a religiously diverse and racially diverse set of parents, of being in league with white supremacists,
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or promoting a dehumanizing form of erasure, or saying that parents who don't want kindergarteners
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to participate in, like the reading of Pride Puppy, for example, they just are trying to teach hate to
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their small children, as if there could be no other reason why a five-year-old shouldn't learn about
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lip rings and underwear in kindergarten than hatred. And tellingly itself, Montgomery County has removed
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Pride Puppy, that book, and My Rainbow from the curriculum over concerns about content. And that's
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what's been reported, concerns about content, which brings a lie to the idea that this was ever about
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sentence structure and literacy. This is about, as the board has said, disrupting either or thinking,
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and that's where you're violating the First Amendment.
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Grace, let me go back to you. You explained a little bit about your adopted child and how this
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came about, but what really put the fire in you? You explained a little bit, the Holy Spirit seemed to
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touch you. This has become a very personal fight for you. Tell us about that.
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Yes. I mean, I don't think there was a question for my husband and I to know that
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there was no way we would let our child be exposed to these materials. She's already
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has enough challenges in life with being a child with Down syndrome, in addition to just any of the
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pains of adoption and to then introduce something like this and confuse her. But also just, it's our
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duty from God and as Catholics to raise our children in the faith, so we're not going to expose her to
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anything that would oppose that. So it just was, it was not a question. But we were so fortunate to
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find out about the work of Beckett Fund, which has been an amazing experience. People so courageous
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to stand for our rights. And so we just reached out to Beckett Fund, told them about our story and said,
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if our experience can help move this case along. And we got on board. We actually started a association
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of parents called Kids First, who are interested in restoring the up-doubt and parental notification.
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And it is a group of wonderful, beautiful parents of all religious backgrounds who have come together to
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say, didn't say no to this. So we became, and Bill, Will can correct this, but plaintiffs of the case
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as well, that a Kids First Association. And so we did get to tell our particular story.
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What about the outer ramifications of this case? Is this going to be some kind of precedent
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for America? Or is it just going to be limited to Montgomery County?
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You know, this will have national implications. And really, and that's because the Supreme Court's
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deciding it. And if the Supreme Court does, which I think it will continue to uphold the First Amendment
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and the authority of parents to direct their children's religious upbringing, that's going to
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bring Montgomery County back in line with the national consensus that I mentioned. There are 47 out of
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50 states that expressly allow for opt-outs around family life, human sexuality, instruction.
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And Montgomery County broke with that consensus. It's time to restore the consensus. The court will
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do that. And if the court does that, that will absolutely, you know, set a good national example.
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Montgomery County is the most religiously diverse county in the United States of America.
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It has an opportunity to lead and to follow the best of our traditions as Americans around practical
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accommodation. And the Supreme Court has stood up for that time. And again, we're confident they will
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here. Grace, your hopes for seeing this through? I hope that the court will rule in our favor. And I
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especially have a heart for the families who don't have the ability to bring their children home or put
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them into private school. These parents and many just even in my parish who just are crying, they just
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feel like they have no alternatives. So this is especially important for them and important for
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all of us, important for us as a nation, as human beings. It's just to not have parental rights just
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run over like, you know, what is happening in our county.
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Will Hahn from the Beckett Fund, thank you so very much for what you do and for what your organization is
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doing and helping great parents all around the nation to protect their rights in the United States.
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Just amazing. Grace, it is an honor for me to speak with you. You've been a hero in the movement for
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life and family for a long time. And you've got my personal admiration for that and a bit of holy
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jealousy with all those priestly sons. God bless you. And thank you both for joining us and for your
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amazing work. Thank you so much. It's great to be with you. And God bless all of you. And we'll see
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Aloha, everyone. This is Jason Jones for Lifeside News. We hope you enjoyed this video. For more
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up to date with the latest news on life, faith, family, and freedom. Thanks for watching and may God bless you.