Dawn Land shares her strange experience testifying in front of the joint legislative committee hearing in favor of Initiative 2081

Dawn Land 
for Clark County Today

On Wednesday (Feb. 27), I was able to testify in front of the joint legislative committee hearing in favor of Initiative 2081, the Parental Rights Initiative.

The hearing was strange. First, the Democrat legislators, who have all been railing against all six initiatives from Let’s Go Washington, spoke about what a good thing this initiative is. With strained smiles they said I-2081 doesn’t do anything, and that the parents’ rights in this initiative already exist. They insultingly said that parents are often confused about what our rights are. According to the Democrats, I-2081 will be a wonderful way for parents to see all our rights in one place.

Which, of course, is careful posturing by the Democrats.

Last year, I filed Referendum 101 against SB 5599, the bill that gives Washington state the right to hide kids who express a “gender identity” from their parents. As we gathered signatures for R-101 we also gathered signatures for I-2081. We fell just short on the signatures for R-101, which means SB 5599 is now a terrible law which is dangerous to families.

When I-2081 becomes law, it will go a long way to protect kids from being preyed on at school by those who would use SB 5599 to lure vulnerable kids away from their families. I-2081 does not completely nullify SB 5599. But every parent should feel confident that they can send their children to school and their kids won’t be snatched away and turned against them. I-2081 keeps parents informed and included in their children’s school experiences.

Because of R-101 and our efforts in also getting signatures for I-2081, Rep. Jim Walsh included me in the first panel of testifiers in the joint committee hearing.

Sadly, that was the only way any parent was able to testify.

The Democrat legislators proceeded to call lobbyist after lobbyist to testify. They skipped over all the parents who signed up to speak. There are many of us who testify often, especially against bad education bills. The Democrat legislators know all our names well so they knew just who to skip over. At one point they wasted about 10 minutes calling up multiple lobbyists who weren’t there.

Those who did speak against I-2081 and Parents’ Rights logged in their position as “other” but when called to testify they spoke against the initiative. These posers included the president of the Washington State PTA, the lobbyists from both the Office of Superintendent of Instruction (OSPI) and Planned Parenthood, and Tacoma School Board member Lisa Keating. Keating, who “transitioned” her only son into a “daughter” starting in preschool, had actually testified last year in favor of hiding kids from their parents in the hearing on SB 5599. All of them listed their position as “other” in this hearing while testifying how awful it will be to codify parent’s rights when Initiative 2081 is made law.

I-2081 is one of six family-friendly, liberty-centered initiatives put out this year by Let’s Go Washington. Our Legislature is required by our Washington State Constitution to consider these initiatives. Any of the six initiatives not passed by the Legislature will go on the ballot in November for consideration by the people.

Make no mistake. The Democrats are terrified of these six initiatives and they absolutely hate I-2081. But while ceding control of our kids back to their parents is an infuriating consideration to the Democrats, they are even more terrified of I-2081 drawing a massive wave of red voters in November.

It’s time for We The People to take back our families and tell our government who is really in charge.

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