Winsome Sears: School Choice ‘Is the New Brown v. Board of Education Fight’

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (R) says parents and conservatives are in the midst of the “new Brown v. Board of Education” fight for school choice.

Speaking on the “Parents with Pitchforks” panel at CPAC 2023, Sears said parents and politicians need to be willing to take risks in order to do what is “righteous.”

“If I have to lose the next election so that the children get an opportunity for a good education, I’ll do it,” she declared. “It’s not about maintaining a seat, it’s about the children and our future.”

“I am responsible for the parenting of my child,” she said, slamming the teachers’ unions and the politicians who support them, saying, “they’re just after dues.”

It is the responsibility of parents and citizens to get involved and “get people elected who want parents to have the choice.” If not, Sears continued, “we’re part of the problem, too.”

America First Legal senior adviser and Fight for Schools executive director Ian Prior joined Sears on the panel and said one of the issues for conservatives is that “it’s taken the left decades to really take control of the education system” and that “it’s going to take decades to repair.”

While children in China are learning calculus, Prior said, “In our country, they learn 72 genders.”

He spoke of a story out of Loudoun County, Virginia, where a girl was uncomfortable using the girls’ restroom with a “transgender”-identifying male.

When she complained, she was told to go to the “unified mental health team” to discuss her issues, and the onus was put on her regarding not accepting using the bathroom with the boy.

The left is attempting to make sure persons who do not “affirm” the gender dysphoria of children are held legally liable for it.

Prior mentioned the bill before the Virginia legislature from Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D) that would have parents face felony or misdemeanor child abuse charges if they refuse to “affirm” their child’s gender identity.

If you do not take your child to get treatment or let them socially transition, you get child protective services called, Prior explained.

However, “schools can already do that.” They are set up to withhold “information from the parent,” and “you are dangerous” for not allowing your child to go down this path.

Prior expects a Supreme Court case to come out of the gendered restroom issue.

There are two diverging cases in the Eleventh and Fourth federal circuits, one of which says that anyone can use any restroom because they are protected under the Civil Rights Act, whereas the other says one does not have the right to use a restroom that does not correspond to their biological sex.

Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.