Ideological grooming is taking place in schools across the nation. Thousands of school administrators are prompting their teachers to teach about LGBTQ+ in the name of “diversity” and “inclusion.” It is a religious instruction packaged in the name of civil rights and identity politics. Because of that deceptive packaging, it was not immediately thrown out of the public school classroom — like the Bible and prayer have been. Schools have also instructed teachers to hide when a student declares a change in gender identity — i.e., when a teacher’s ideological instruction has brought about a conversion.

If this teaching is right and good, why hide it from parents? The answer is obvious. It is not right or good; in fact, it is abuse of power. But the radical leftists long ago decided that they would brainwash children into their political worldview to ensure their hold on political power. That worldview now includes radical Gender Marxism and the enforcement of celebrating every aspect of the LGBTQ+ community … or else.

President Joe Biden recently said: “These are our kids. These are our neighbors, not someone else’s kids; they’re all our kids. … LGBTQI+ Americans, especially children: You are loved. You are heard. And this administration has your back.” In essence, Biden is echoing what has long been a left-wing sentiment: that children belong to the government and not their parents. “It takes a village,” as Hillary Clinton once put it.

The Federalist’s David Harsanyi comments that Biden’s statement “sounds like an innocuous platitude to some woke White House speechwriter, but to me it sounds like a totalitarian notion.” Harsanyi goes on to clarify that he doesn’t think Biden is going to send parents to the gulags or that they are particularly deep thinkers when it comes to gender theory. But he does think that “the White House is teeming with wannabe authoritarians who believe the state would do a better job raising kids by filling their impressionable heads with corrosive, immoral ideas.”

What have been the consequences so far for parents who have discovered, to their dismay, that their child was brainwashed into the transgender ideology cult? The lucky ones lied until they could get their child out of the hostile school system to rectify the damage inflicted on their beloved child. The not-so-lucky ones have had Child Protective Services CPS come in and take these gender-confused children out of the home. Immigrant single mother Abigail Martinez lost her beautiful daughter to CPS and suicide because of this ideology. It destroys families.

What are the consequences for the children who are indoctrinated into this cult, which lets them put themselves in the place of God and choose their own gender? They are warped morally. Many develop mental disorders (such as depression) if they weren’t already struggling with one. Still others slip down the pipeline of never-ending medical treatments that never give them the desired solution: For their lie to become truth.

The children are put on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones that make them feel good for a while, but down the road, when their brains are fully developed, many deeply regret this decision. These drugs cause sterilization and make the user more vulnerable to developing other deadly conditions including cancer. Several countries in Europe have seriously restricted the use and distribution of these drugs to children, as there are no discernible benefits to using them. Some children go on to actually mutilate their bodies in an attempt to be who they are not. They destroy healthy body parts and are left with useless flesh and mountains of medical bills.

What precisely are the federal government and public schools advocating for educationally? One need look no further than the topless stunt that male “transgender” social media influencer pulled a few days ago at the White House for clarification. Under the guise of “tolerance,” “acceptance,” and “inclusion,” kids are sexualized. They are made to believe that their identity lies in their sexuality. They are exposed to pornographic books. The goal is no longer to educate but to indoctrinate. Governmental entities don’t have to put back the broken pieces that they shattered. They only care that the broken child is so warped that they will still vote Democrat when they turn 18.

To quote Harsanyi again, our children “are human beings with rights, parents, and unique ambitions, not platitude-spouting automatons who should be categorized by skin color or gender ‘identification.’”

Conservatives have rightly pointed out that children belong to their parents, certainly not the government. Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) sums up this sentiment perfectly: “I think politicians should really stay out of that stuff. I don’t think we should be making that statement [that they’re all our kids] at all, especially with something so controversial. And at the end of the day, what we really need to do is let kids be kids, not use them as political tools, political weapons [emphasis added]. Let them grow up. Make sure that they understand that there’s a lot that they need to learn and work through, and not bring politics into it. I think kids being a part of this thing is the worst thing.”

As Christians, we believe that all children belong to God. Parents are merely stewards of those lives entrusted to our care. It is parents who have the right and the duty to train their children morally, ideologically, and religiously. The government’s job is to protect our rights and uphold our laws. None of which the Biden administration seems to be doing very well.