So that horrible, very bad, awful, terrible bill that provides a legislative framework for advancing book bans, censorship, and hate that we shared with you last week? IT PASSED THE REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED U.S. HOUSE!!!

UUGGGHHHH!

But hope isn’t lost. Now the bill is moving onto the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by a Democratic majority, so that harmful bill (H.R. 5) is unlikely to pass – thankfully! BUT WE STILL NEED TO USE OUR OUTSIDE VOICES to tell all of Congress that we won’t be fooled by bills with titles like the so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” – legislation that actually takes away the rights of parents, kids, educators, and families. We need to refocus the Republican party and our elected leaders! They need to stop this nonsense and instead work on policies that moms really need like affordable child care, maternal health equity, paid family and medical leave, mental health access, eldercare, an expanded Child Tax Credit, and more.

***Tell the U.S. Senate: Reject the harmful so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” (H.R. 5) and work on MomsRising’s Top 10 policies – The Moms Rising for Freedom Agenda – instead!***

Listen. Moms can’t be fooled. We know when our kids put green beans in their napkins to pretend they’ve eaten them, we know when video games are played too late at night, and we know when Republican leaders in Congress are trying to say they're doing something for moms when they are actually working against us. We certainly don’t want to co-parent with haters, and we won’t let them define freedom for us, either. So moms are rising in unprecedented numbers: calling leaders; sharing their stories; and juggling the impossible through a pandemic turned endemic with a vision to achieve true, lasting, tangible freedom that puts families first. That vision, our vision together, is in the Moms Rising for Freedom Agenda. [1]

What’s going on? The badly misnamed “Parents Bill of Rights’ which the GOP-led House passed on a party-line vote last week, is all wrong for America’s moms, kids, families, and educators. It is the legal basis for censorship, bullying, and book bans, and for division based on race, sexual orientation, religious minorities, and gender identity, masquerading as a bill of rights. In states like Florida, where versions of this bill and others have already become law, we've seen a tremendous amount of harmful impacts of these policies: 

- Diverse books like the biographies of Harriet Tubman and Celia Cruz removed from school classrooms in mass book bans;

- Textbooks changed to erase Black history and remove important historical moments, including why Rosa Parks held her seat on the bus, sparking the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott;

- Teachers leaving the workforce in droves -- exacerbating teacher shortages at a time when Black and Latinx educators are already underrepresented in the teaching profession;

- LGBTQ+ clubs and supports removed from schools.

*This is NOT the hate and fear-filled future we want for our kids! Tell the U.S. Senate to reject this harmful bill and work on what real moms and families want and need instead!

America’s moms want schools to be safe from gun violence. We want schools to be inclusive of all of our kids. We want educators to teach the honest history of our country, the good and the bad. Our kids can handle, and need to know, about the history and obstacles faced, and overcome, by members of our Black, Brown, AAPI, Native American, immigrant, religious-minority, LGBTQIA+, and other communities. We want our students to be able to access unbiased health information. 

We want all our youth, regardless of income, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, to be safe and included in schools that prepare them to contribute to and succeed in our society. And we want a society that rejects ‘‘us vs. them’’ and puts in place the caregiving and other supports that will allow all families to succeed. What this country’s moms want from Congress is affordable child—as well as aging and disability—care; paid family and medical leave; fair pay; health care and medications we can afford; vastly improved maternal health care for all of us; the ability to make our own decisions about if, when, and how many children to have; and laws that will end the scourge of gun violence and keep our children, streets, schools and communities safe.

>>>SIGN NOW: Add your name now to tell the U.S. Senate: Reject the harmful so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” and work on what moms and parents need instead!

Where did we get the policies that we’re lifting? Year after year, we listen to our more than one million members and we meet with researchers about the federal policies that are most needed to increase economic security, stop discrimination, and build a nation where everyone can thrive. Our members and the experts agree on the top 10 policies every leader should support right now – and together they comprise the Moms Rising for Freedom Agenda. 

>>> Don’t forget to sign your name on our letter to the U.S. Senate – and share this action link far and wide on social media and more so others can sign on too!

Now more than ever, it’s so important to let Congress know you want them to prioritize the Top 10 issues in our Moms Rising for Freedom Agenda: A Vision to Lift Our Nation; and reject book bans, censorship, and hate in the name of parents! [2] Our Top 10 for moms include: 

1. Workplace Justice and Paid Family & Medical Leave 
2. High-Quality Child Care
3. Access to Health Care & Aging and Disability Care
4. Fair Taxation 
5. Culturally-Relevant, Non-Carceral Mental Health Care
6. Maternal Justice
7. Fair Treatment of Immigrant Family
8. Fight Gun Violence
9. Youth & Family Justice
10. Democracy Protection 

When we raise our voice, we make change not just possible, but inevitable.

Thank you for being there, for taking action, and for protecting kids,