Republican Presidential candidates are taking advantage of extremist views on race, sexuality and gender identity, under the label of “parental rights,” to campaign in New Hampshire. These hot button issues are putting the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities at the center of the 2024 elections.
Reports the Boston Globe:
Parental rights — a term used as shorthand largely by conservative groups that oppose how some public schools approach race, sexuality, and gender identity — is the latest culture war being waged in New Hampshire and across the country. As the crowded field of Republican presidential hopefuls seeks to win support away from former president Trump, the issue has begun to claim a dominant place in the political conversation, even in a purple state not known for embracing conservative social causes.
Republican voters, even some who don’t currently have kids enrolled in public schools, say they are concerned with how educators are addressing issues of diversity and identity; in some cases, they raised the issue unprompted in interviews with the Globe. And Republican presidential candidates are capitalizing on the attention whipped up by conservative groups. Both businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley have appeared at New Hampshire town halls with Moms for Liberty, which has waged campaigns to wrest control of local school boards in various states, a testament to the organization’s growing influence in the Republican party and the state.
At an event in a charter school here last week, Haley told a small crowd that Tiffany Justice, the group’s cofounder, was doing “God’s work.”
“You’re fighting every mom’s fight,” Haley said. “I can’t thank you enough.” …
Arnie Arnesen, a radio host and former Democratic nominee for New Hampshire governor, said Republican presidential candidates’ attention to the issue does not reflect New Hampshire parents’ concerns.
“It’s not about our parents, it’s about their political agenda,” she said. “It’s a national message, but not a New Hampshire message.”
Parental rights, she speculated, are “a distraction so we don’t talk about abortion” — a cultural issue that has proven politically challenging for Republicans across the country since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Still, there are indications that national debates over what’s going on in public school classrooms have entered the minds of parents in New Hampshire. A March poll from the University of New Hampshire found residents were divided on the “parental bill of rights” moving through the state Legislature. And 64 percent of respondents said parents have a right to know if their child is identifying at school as a different gender than when enrolled.
Read the complete Boston Globe story here.
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