We knew it was coming.
When Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill became law-keeping teachers from discussing age-inappropriate sexual material with students in kindergarten through third grade – the media pounced.
They dubbed it “Don’t Say Gay,” which is hardly an accurate depiction of what’s contained in the law. Disney, one of the state’s largest employers and owner of ABC (and ABC News), condemned the law. Liberal talking heads took turns on CNN and MSNBC attacking Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature as being bigoted.
So, when the Alabama Legislature took up not one, but two bills in the closing hours of our 2022 legislative session related to protecting children and gender education, we knew our turn was next.
It didn’t take long.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who is reportedly leaving the Biden administration in a matter of weeks to join MSNBC, decided to lecture Alabama’s legislators from the press room podium the very day these issues were being debated on the floor of the State Legislature.
“…Alabama’s lawmakers and other legislators who are contemplating these discriminatory bills have been put on notice by the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services,” she announced.
The over-the-top and inaccurate headlines soon followed.
“Alabama passes bills to target trans minors and LGBTQ classroom discussion” – NBC News
“Alabama governor signs into law two bills limiting transgender youth protections” – CNN
“Alabama governor signs ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ trans care and bathroom ban bills” – ABC News
We were called “hateful,” “hurtful,” and “ignorant” by TV news presenters from their Washington, D.C. and New York City bubbles.
Did any of them bother to set foot in our state to talk to our residents or the lawmakers the people of Alabama elected to represent them? Did they try to understand why we passed these measures before painting us with the broad brush of their own hatred of people with differing opinions?
I know I made myself available to the media for interviews. However, no one reached out to me in my role as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party until over a week after the bills had been signed – well after the news cycle and public attention had moved on to something else.
I suspect they knew my comments wouldn’t fit their predetermined narrative. With that in mind, I thought I would set the record straight in this article, and share with you why the Alabama Republican Party supports these measures. It’s because we care about our children. We want young women to feel safe in school bathrooms, we want a fair playing field in school sporting events, and we want to make sure children don’t make irreversible life changing decisions before they are old enough to fully understand the consequences.
It’s really quite simple, we want our children to be safe, successful, and have an education that does not push a social agenda on them while still in elementary school. There is nothing more important than protecting our children, and Alabama is now leading the nation in this area. I think we need to thank our State Legislature for their work on this issue. We may not be biologists, but we still know the difference between male and female. Perhaps this makes us overqualified to be on the Supreme Court, or maybe it just means we won’t bow to a politically correct agenda that doesn’t make sense.
People are tired of the media bias. They want objective reporting that gives all the facts, tells both sides of the story, and allows the audience to make up its own mind. It’s time to return to basic journalist standards that will allow all Americans to be accurately informed. Until then, I plan to keep trying to set the record straight.
John Wahl is the Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party
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