Connecticut needs a "Let Kids Be Kids" Bill

Contact your legislators here.

Our Connecticut Attorney General Tong has demanded in a lawsuit brief that a Connecticut mom defer to school officials and her children must be socially transitioned against her and their father’s will and even without their knowledge. In response, FIC and our allies are working to pass a “Let Kids Be Kids” bill in Connecticut. And you can help by contacting your legislator by e-mail, phone or in person.

Tell your State Senator and State Representative about Connecticut mom, Marissa Silvestri and what our Attorney General demands for her family.  Marissa’s children attend a school in Massachusetts.  At Baird Middle School in September 2019, 4 years ago, her daughter was presented videos on gender identity and preferred pronouns without Marissa’s consent or knowledge (much like Granby parents experienced last year).  A year later, this 11 year-old girl, experiencing insecurity, low self-esteem, lack of popularity and other symptoms asked her guidance counselor to help her talk to her parents.  As is proper, the counselor and Marissa worked together to share information and Marissa’s daughter started to get professional help.  The school was politely asked to let Marissa and her daughter’s father privately continue the appropriate mental health care for their daughter.

But that was not what the administrators of Baird Middle School wanted (or Attorney General Tong).  The counselor was eventually fired and in defiance of Marissa and her daughter’s father, the school accepted the child’s self-diagnosis of gender dysphoria and began a social gender transition at school. They changed their daughter’s pronouns from “she” to “he”, encouraging her to use the restrooms of the opposite sex, facilitating stereotypical boy behavior and more.  Marissa’s beautiful little girl was being socially transitioned at school and she was helpless to stop it.

But what about her other child, a son?  In March of the next year, 2021, Marissa learned that the school had been secretly socially transitioning her older son into a girl for months and hiding it. The school was transitioning both of her children against her will and the will of their biological father. And the State hid it.  Let me repeat, transitioning their only daughter into a boy, and their only son into a girl. 

Who can support this?

Attorney General Tong and our administrative agencies do (read about DCF inviting children to report their non-gender affirming parents).  Tong decided that Marissa is wrong and the school was right to teach her children a false ideology of gender, facilitate her children into deeper gender confusion, socially transition them without her knowledge or consent, and to lie about it.  

The Family Institute of Connecticut with our sister organization, Massachusetts Family Institute, legally intervened and we pursue it to this hour.  Our opponents are strong and, as usual, legion. Attorney General Tong is using an army, OUR army of tax-payer funded attorneys, to demand that Marissa’s children be socially transitioned against her will with the power of the state.  To deny biology, psychology, common sense and our very understanding, a biblical understanding, of reality.  Our state government chooses to displace the holy and natural order of sex, the family, parents and the bond between them and their children. It is an assault by our Attorney General, by our government, on the foundation of reality.

This cannot stand and praise God, a court in California and some other venues across the country are starting to see it our way.  But this is the beginning of a long fight.  There are many other issues the Family Institute of Connecticut is working on and let’s be encouraged but also vigilant.  We are working to pass a “Let Parents Parent” bill that with your help, will help protect Marissa, her children, and families like them. We kicked NARAL when it was down and now they have abandoned our state. We can have more victories and win.

But the children will commit suicide if they can’t transition in secret! – is what our opponents will claim. Scientific evidence suggests that transgender interventions do NOT reduce the risk of suicide. In fact, puberty blockers are associated with depression and other emotional disturbances related to suicide. Furthermore, data support that in the long run, transitioning may even exacerbate the psychological distress that could lead to suicide (Robbins & Broyles). https://childparentrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SUICIDE-MYTH-HANDOUT.pdf and https://www.cathmed.org/resources/the-ideology-of-gender-harms-children/. Even if transitioned without parental notification, a child is still demonstrably at risk for suicide. Parents are the adults charged with the care of their children, the adults that nurture, raise, and house them. Shouldn’t they know that their child is at risk so that they can provide necessary safeguards and treatment? Ask your legislators to support a 2024 “Let Kids Be Kids” notification bill today.

Our opponents also say that social transitioning is not a big deal and parents don’t need to be notified. Not true, social transition can set a trajectory for life altering decisions and minor children are not capable of making that decision without family. Many robust studies have found that without social or medical transition, 80-90% of children cease to want to transition after puberty.  If social transition starts, one study showed that there is 94% persistence after 5 years. https://www.cathmed.org/resources/the-ideology-of-gender-harms-children/

Friends, we cannot win alone. Won’t you consider a donation to our organization to help fund our education efforts. Thank you!

Did you know that the State of Connecticut has paid for the genital removal of minor teenage girls to “treat” gender dysphoria? This is madness. Check out this blog post and please share with others.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31 8-9

originally published 10/2023