Earlier on Friday, Matt reported on the disturbing news that a Virginia Democrat, Del. Elizabeth Guzman, plans to introduce a law where parents could face abuse charges if they do not affirm their child's gender identity and sexual orientation. It not only is making news at the state level, but also at the federal level. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who represents Virginia's 7th Congressional District, located in Northern Virginia, just recently campaigned with Del. Guzman.
Come join me with @SpanbergerVA07 and @timkaine at the Prince William County DMV early voting site to vote early at 12:30 PM today at 2731 Caton Hill Rd, Woodbridge. Due to legislation passed in recent years, you don't need a reason anymore to vote early!
— Elizabeth Guzman (@guzman4virginia) October 11, 2022
Guzman tweeted on Tuesday about an early voting event with Rep. Spanberger and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). And, as Henry Rodgers also reported on Tuesday for The Daily Caller, Prince William County Supervisor Kenny Boddye, a surrogate for Spanberger, told a questioner that he thinks parents who don't affirm their child's identity should be looked into:
In a video recorded on Oct. 4, Boddye says authorities should look into taking children from parents who do not affirm their child’s gender identity.
A questioner asked Boddye, “Recently announced by the group [Pride Liberation Project] was that they were establishing, forgive me for one moment, it was the, affirming households is what they were establishing. That adults could take in kids that feel like that they’re not being affirmed at home so that they can come live and reside with that adult. What are your thoughts on that policy?”
“I think that’s something that would have to be very carefully looked at. Because while it’s one thing if it’s a family friend, or you know, a family member or something like that, that knows the household knows there’s issues there, that’s known to the kids themselves and the parents, that’s one thing. But if you’re talking to someone who’s out, an outsider, someone who’s not a known entity to that, to that, that individual or that child or that family, I think you need to be careful with that. Obviously, we have other systems in place for other types of care for children, you know, foster care, you have adoption programs, you have temporary situations with kinship care, and things like that. So I would like to see if there’s going to be a policy like that a lot of the guardrails put in place with like, with those programs, so that if it is deemed like, hey, this is a safe environment for this child, that person has passed a background check and everything else to know that they’re safe and their home has been checked [unintelligible], that’s one thing, but we wouldn’t need those kind of guardrails in place, before I would support something like that,” Boddye responded.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) highlighted such associations that Spanberger has with Guzman and Boddye. "Abigail Spanberger is campaigning with woke radicals that don’t believe in parental rights and want parents jailed because Spanberger agrees with these insane policies," NRCC Spokeswoman Camille Gallo said in a statement.
This move from Guzman appears to be one of the latest in which Virginia Democrats are looking to get back at Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) when it comes to him prioritizing parents' rights. Youngkin, who beat out former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) last November and took office in January, made parents' rights a cornerstone of his campaign and now his administration. Exit polls showed that voters favored Youngkin on this issue.
The issue has gained more prominence in Virginia after Gov. Youngkin last month introduced updated guidelines that affirm parents' rights when it comes to the "2022 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia's Public Schools." Certain Northern Virginia schools have indicated they don't intend to comply, though, and students also staged a walkout last month over the guidelines, which the mainstream media and local press glowingly covered.
Spanberger is running against Republican Yesli Vega in a competitive race. "It’s incredibly concerning that Abigail is campaigning with left wing extremists who want to criminalize parents for being involved in their children’s lives. Abigail has proven again that she’s more committed to union bosses and liberal school administrators than the parents and children of Virginia," Vega said in a statement for Townhall.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) added Spanberger to its list of frontline members in March of last year. Such a list is reserved for particularly vulnerable incumbents.