PA Freedom Caucus Unveils Package of Bills to Ensure Free Speech & Expression
Bills would Protect Parents and Teachers from Undue Attacks on First Amendment Rights
Harrisburg, PA: A bill package is being introduced in the PA House to shield parents, teachers, or other individuals from legal or disciplinary action against unconstitutional attacks that seek to strip away their first amendment right to free speech. The bills would safeguard parents and teachers who refuse to use a child’s “preferred pronouns” from improper recourse.
The bills are a proactive step to ensure fundamental rights in Pennsylvania which have receded in states like Illinois (among the nation’s biggest population losers per capita), where a bill is nearing consideration that labels parents “child abusers” for merely questioning “gender-affirming service.” The Illinois measure would call for the severing of parental/custodial rights should a parent fail to consent to a permanent and irreversible medical procedure, or damaging puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
“These bills aim to support parents’ freedom of speech and overall parental authority, especially when talking to their children and deciding what’s best for them,” said Robert Leadbeter (Columbia). It’s about safeguarding families from the government officials and bureaucrats pushing divisive agendas and undermining our conservative values as a direct attack on the family unit. As a member of the PAFC and one of the authors of this bill package, parental rights will continue to be something I fight for every day.”
“What can’t fade into the periphery is that this package of bills is about free speech and defending teachers,” said PAFC member and contributing author, Joe D’Orsie (York). We know how the legacy media sees this issue and the labels they have for anyone who dares to question the agenda; the bottom line is that the first amendment rights of our parents and teachers supersede their social activism.”
No kidding, no head shaking. We need to let go of manufactured ideological issues and focus on kitchen-table ones that make an actual difference to average Americans. Until we do, we’ll continue to get slammed in voting booths across this great country. Remember, insanity is banging your head against a wall time and again and expecting a different outcome.
With the myriad of profound issues that affect schools and children in our state—
literacy, funding, oversized classrooms, safety, underpaid teachers, etc.—why are you focusing on a comparatively minor issue, no matter how you try to elevate it by dressing it up in a freedom of speech cloak? Get real and get to work on the core educational issues, rather than dancing on the periphery. Do so, and you might even win more at the ballot box. Peter T, a disillusioned, life-long Republican.