Georgia House passes School Club Law

The Georgia House of Representatives has passed a bill which will require schools notify parents of clubs their children are participating in.

I wouldn't ordinarily have a problem with this. After all, parents pay for the expenses incurred by participating in such clubs, along with school taxes. They are also their child's guardian. I've said before I believe that a child's rights are held in trust by their parents. So a child has freedom to assemble, except where that's ruled against by the parent.

So far so good.

My problem comes not from the basic logic of the bill. It comes from the motivation. It seems clear, from observation, that the bill is intended to kill support for gay-rights clubs in schools. I make that deduction from observing the comments of those who have proposed the bills, which apparently arose from an issue with a gay-related organization in a White County School. That its cloaked in the language of parent empowerment is not an improvement.

A reasonable bill, which comes from a place of prejudice is no longer a reasonable bill.

Now as far as I know, schools would not be able to limit a parents inquiry into what clubs their student was a member of. Any parent with a concern would certainly be able to examine where his/her children spends their time while in school (as I think, a reasonable parent would.) So if a parent doesn't know what clubs their kid is a member of ALREADY, than they aren't much good as a parent.

Now I'll never be accused of being a huge supporter of the Gay-Rights lobby. I've issues with their agenda and the language in which they cover their argument. but the House of Representatives is empowering parents for the wrong reasons and in the wrong way.