Ending three federal programs that serve radical progressive ideology would be a good start.
Ending three federal programs that serve radical progressive ideology would be a good start.
O ne of the most effective campaign commercials of the recent presidential election cycle ended with the reminder, “Kamala Harris is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you.” The issues surrounding women’s sports, privacy, and gender ideology turned out to be major factors in Trump’s popular vote victory, decisive Electoral College win, and his party’s regaining of majorities in the House and Senate.
If the incoming administration is serious about delivering to the American people results based on common sense, biological reality, and cultural sanity, there is plenty of work to be done across multiple departments and agencies of the leviathan federal government.
The most concerning, yet somehow least surprising, example comes from the National Institutes of Health under the Department of Health and Human Services. The Teen Connection Project is a research effort that the NIH funds and the faculty at the University of Nebraska runs. It pays minors to be in a program that pairs them with adult mentors who identify as LGBT+. The consent form explicitly states, “You do not have to get your caregivers’ / parents’ permission to be part of this project.”
According to the program’s information page,
The goal of this research project is to evaluate an online, seven-session mentoring and skill-building program for TGMY [transgender and minority youth] (ages 14-18) called Teen Connection Project (TCP). Each TGMY will be paired with a TGM adult mentor. Mentors and mentees will participate together in each session, which will be facilitated by two of the mentors, who will direct activities and discussion. Group sessions will then be followed by one-on-one mentor-mentee sessions during which TGMY will receive support, advice, and coaching from TGM mentors.
The NIH may be breaking the law to push its transgender agenda. The Code of Federal Regulations generally requires parental consent for minors to be research subjects. Moreover, the FAQ page for the Department of Health and Human Services states the following:
By definition, children are unable to provide informed consent to participate in research, although they might be able to give their assent. The IRB should determine that, unless parental permission can be waived, adequate provisions are made for soliciting the permission of the parent(s) or legal guardian(s). The regulations define ‘permission’ at 46.402(c) as the ‘agreement of parent(s) or guardian to the participation of their child or ward in research.’ The term ‘parent’ means a ‘child’s biological or adoptive parent.’ The term ‘guardian’ means ‘an individual who is authorized under applicable State or local law to consent on behalf of a child to general medical care.’
The requirement for parental permission can be waived “under certain circumstances. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) may waive the requirements for obtaining parental or guardian permission if it makes and documents the findings under either 45 CFR 46.116(c) or (d).”
The American people deserve to know what findings were made for this research project that resulted in clearance to conduct the study on gender-confused kids as young as 14 without parental permission.
The NIH program isn’t the only one worthy of scrutiny. Whoever is eventually confirmed as the new secretary of defense, he or she should not overlook the Department of Defense Education Activity, which educates more than 69,000 American children of military members and DOD civilian employees across the world. DoDEA provides training for its faculty and staff members that, according to City Journal, “advises teachers to build special relationships with students, encouraging them to adopt new identities, and even to keep information from parents.” The Claremont Institute released an extensive report on this topic earlier this year.
Even the Department of Agriculture has not been immune to radical policies at odds with parental rights. In 2020, 4-H, a network of youth organizations that the Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension System funds and administers, published a guidance document titled, “Practices for Inclusion of Individuals of All Genders and Sexual Orientations.” The document states, “4-H will treat all participants according to their gender identity, even if a youth member’s guardian raises objections.” One North Carolina parent, Van Brinson, discovered the policy when considering whether to allow his child to attend a 4-H camp. He was told that “if any counselors identified as transgender, the camp would allow them to bunk under the gender they identify as.” Then, “when Brinson asked if parents were going to be informed of the policy, the camp’s director Sarah Moss told him she would pass his concerns ‘up the chain.’”
Come January, Trump will be the top of the chain. Americans will be watching closely to see if he and his cabinet members will deliver substantive results to protect children and respect the God-given rights of parents.