Trenton assault on parental rights watered down, still bad

Moms in New Jersey are on the march again. New Jersey moms will be among those testifying against the latest assault by Trenton politicians against parental rights.

The bill, A3446 has an "Orwellian" name, “Freedom to Read”. The original version had three points that would be unacceptable to any parent with an ounce of common sense.

Grants librarians and school staff full immunity from prosecution for violating the NJ obscenity for minors law.
Removes local control and places the power with Trenton bureaucrats.
Allows librarians to legally go after parents who speak out against their ability to share obscene material with their children; then parents are responsible for legal fees.

The good news is that the original bill has been gutted, sort of.

The amended bill was emailed out last night at 8:30 p.m. It was cut down to nine pages from 26. All the egregious sections: obscenity statue being amended to protect teachers, and suing parents who complain, have been removed. And it just requires the local Board of Ed to set up a review committee for challenged books and then the board has final discretion in the decision to remove the books.

It does allow books to be removed, but parents can still be shut out of the conversation if the board allows it.

If we are going to stand up for the rights of parents to have a basic education provided to their children, we have to stand up now to enforce the laws on the books. The fact that the obscenity laws are being ignored and parents are being excluded from the conversation is reason enough to shut down this bill.

In its revised form, librarians and school staff still have civil and criminal immunity for violating the obscenity statute. Yup, that means with the sexualized books still in school, your kid could be used as a pawn in the drive to empower radical predators. Parents still need to fight.

Two moms who called us today on their way to Trenton pointed out the dangers of the watered-down version.

Kristen from Morris County and Alexandra from Bergen County weighed in.

Kristen:

Alexandra:

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The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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Filed Under: Trenton