One of the most common sayings in the world of politics informs us that “elections have consequences.” That maxim may be put to the test in Arizona very quickly in 2023. As our colleague Sarah Arnold reports at Townhall, a state senator there has introduced a bill that would strongly reinforce parental rights. If passed into law, the bill would require all Arizona schools to obtain written parental permission before engaging with students by referring to them using incorrect pronouns, new names, or any other “gender transition” activities. It’s sad that something as obvious and sensible as this would even require legislation, but it’s yet another symptom of the insane clown show that our country is turning into in the 21st century.

State senator-elect John Kavanagh (R-AZ) introduced a proposal that would require parental permission for schools to refer to students’ desired pronouns that are opposite their biological sex.

“An employee or independent contractor of a school district or charter school may not knowingly address, identify or refer to a student who is under eighteen years of age by a pronoun that differs from the pronoun that aligns with the student’s biological sex unless the school district or charter school receives written permission from the student’s parent,” Kavanagh’s proposal read.

The bill also protects those who have moral and religious obligations. It states that a school district or charter school may not require staff to refer to a person that differs from their biological pronoun if it contradicts their religious or moral convictions.

As noted in the excerpt above, the proposal also contains exceptions for people who don’t wish to be forced to use any gender-bending language on the basis of their religious or moral convictions. Personally, I think that state senator Kavanagh should have stuck to the parental rights angle here. The Freedom of Religion aspect of this particular debate doesn’t strike me as being all that strong and it might not hold up in court.

The way Kavanagh framed the bill seems clever, however, and it’s a smart approach to take. Notice that he’s not attempting to make it illegal to ever refer to a student using incorrect pronouns. That would have opened up another can of worms. His proposal simply ensures that schools can’t go behind the backs of the parents, leaving them in the dark over something with the potential to have a drastic impact on their children.

Students can’t be given an aspirin by the school nurse without parental permission. If they demonstrate any form of illness or begin behaving erratically, the parents similarly need to be notified at once. And if they’ve been “influenced” into the warped transgender cult that has been flooding schools around the nation, that is absolutely something the parents or guardians need to be made aware of immediately. There’s not much we can do for the kids coming from families that actually support this sort of thing, but at least we should be able to protect the children of the parents who are being kept in the dark.

Getting back to the theme of elections having consequences, if this bill passes through the state legislature it will wind up on the desk of Katie Hobbs. Would she really dare to go so far as to veto the bill just to prove her woke credentials? If she does and any of the families in Arizona are upset by that, I’ll just offer them one reminder in advance. Kari Lake would never in a million years have vetoed a measure like this. Just saying…