For me this has much less to do with the issue at hand, but more to do with my parental rights. I am an American parent and I refuse to give away my right to raise my children morally to the State. Watch this family's story, regardless of your opinion on the issue. It is disturbing and a very real reminder why I want to keep my children close at hand. When did Kindergarten stop being just about colors and the alphabet?
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In Illinois, the Department of Children and Family Services takes no position on the sexual orientation of those who foster or adopt children in state custody. "Illinois law and DCFS policy do not inhibit or prohibit adoption by non-heterosexual individuals or couples," spokesman Kendall Marlowe said. "Illinois law also does not prohibit co-parent adoptions and this state gives full faith and credit to adoptions legally completed in other states. We welcome all families who are qualified to care for our children."
Thanks you for posting this.
Thanks for posting. That family is doing what we all are suppose to be doing and stand up and fight for our rights. If we don't we will lose our rights.
I'm not really sure what to think of the video. I have quite a few, seemingly conflicting, thoughts going through my head right now. I tried to organize them, but gave up 'cause it didn't work, so I'll just post my random thoughts and try to clarify later if I need to.
1) This is what happens when the State gets in the business of regulating anything... regulation leads to more regulation. Once the State got involved in using marital relationships for the purposes of taxation, liability, etc. it eventually had to get involved in defining what marriage is. Rather than see Christians demanding that the State recognize certain types of marriages, I would like to see them telling the State to get out of the business altogether. Churches should declare marriages, States should declare custodial relationships, joint ownerships of property, etc through legal documents not religious ceremonies. Taxes should be handled the same way.
2) If school districts were really local, the parents could have a more direct influence over the curriculum of their particular school or simply move one district over (and not have to give up a job) to attend a school more in line with their parenting and educational philosophies. (It's the rule of subsidiarity and it is followed far too infrequently.)
3) Many people eagerly boycott businesses (the anti-WalMart sentiments seem to be growing all the time), but why are we so hesitant to boycott a state? I commend the father for going to jail over his beliefs (I am a huge fan of civil disobedience), but if the State maintains its stand, I hope this family moves out of Mass. and lets the government know why. We did this when we moved out of PA for Frodo's PhD program. We made a list of states we would NOT move to because of their homeschooling laws, and PA was one of them even though we already lived there. When we moved out of state, we sent a letter to the legislature letting them know that because of their homeschooling laws and oppressive tax structure, we were purposefully moving out of the state and would not come back unless things changed. Could you imagine what would happen if hundreds or thousands of people did this in Mass.?! Voting on a ballot is wonderful, but voting with you feet and your wallet can get the message across unmistakably.
4) I'm not really sure how a State-run education system should handle questions of morality. On the one hand, I think, like this family, that the government should remain mute; on the other hand, there is no possible way they can ignore it... especially as the kids get older or if they have classmates living in households with values different than their own. I just don't know what a good solution is except to either homeschool, use a private school, or go back to a one-room schoolhouse/ community schoolhouse model.
Very thought-provoking video. Thanks for posting it.
Oops! Because they mention Mass. in the video (and most of my family lives there), I got Mass. stuck in my head. This video addresses California. Sorry about that.
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