It’s beyond troubling to see the lengths to which some are willing to go to strip away parental rights under the guise of modern progressivism. In fact, it’s horrifying. When I first read the headline, “It’s a privilege, not a right, to know your kid’s gender identity,” published in the Toronto Star, it was like a sucker punch of twisted logic and shameless brash. My first thought: all you suckers fell for it—they told you they weren’t coming for your children and you believed them.

The audacity to suggest that parents should be considered second-class citizens in the lives of their own children is staggering. This isn’t just an isolated incident. It’s part of a larger, crafty (like Satan) movement that has been brewing for years. The left’s fixation on commandeering the hearts and minds of our children is not new—it’s a documented obsession aimed at reshaping society according to their own perverted worldview. From classroom curricula to social media campaigns—even in congregations that pretend to be churches—they have systematically and successfully undermined parental influence and promoted ideologies that are at odds with sound reason, rational discourse, and of course, traditional family values.

This piece doesn’t just float this unsettling idea as a mere suggestion—it doubles down on it, amounting to a shameless attack on parental roles and responsibilities, all while raising the banner of supposed compassion and inclusion.

Let’s start with the premise of the article. The author, who identifies as an “urban, liberal, agnostic Canadian,” claims that it is a “privilege, not a right,” for parents to know their child’s gender identity. Pardon the indignation, but since when did basic parental rights get downgraded to mere “privileges” bestowed by the child? Perhaps we should ask the run-of-the-mill “child liberation theologian” on Twitter? What’s next? Is it a privilege to know your child’s grades or health status? That was rhetorical. The answer, according to them, is “yes.”

This is not just an isolated view from a fringe leftist, but an illustration of what the left has been striving for—dismantling the family unit and usurping parental roles. The author even bemoans the new policies in some Conservative provinces that require parental consent before a student under 16 can use their preferred pronouns or name at school as some kind of terrible development. To most reasonable people, involving parents in such significant aspects of their children’s lives is not just common sense but necessary for the emotional and psychological well-being of the child. However, to the author, parents should be sidelined and “earn the privilege” to such information about their own children.

Then there’s the astounding manipulation of statistics. The author cites a Trevor Project survey to claim that fewer than one in three “transgender” and “non-binary” youth find their homes “gender-affirming,” to which I say: oookay? to be clear, not conforming to the pressures of cultural norms likely signifies that a home is grounded in the immutable truths of biblical morality. Rather than being a mark against these families, it testifies to their commitment to enduring principles.

It’s horrifying that the article perpetuates the notion that parents should be forcibly sidelined by the state when it comes to their own children. “But not everyone is that sort of parent,” the author claims, implying that the state—or the collective—knows better. This is exactly what the left has wanted for years: to wrest control of the younger generation from their parents and indoctrinate them according to their own worldviews, regardless of how misplaced these might be.

The article concludes by asserting that those who support this “need to band together to make sure the most important rights in this discussion—the rights of children to freely express their gender—are upheld and uplifted.” As if the primary rights at stake here are not those of the parents and families being torn asunder by such corrosive ideologies. This mindset not only undermines the familial bonds but fundamentally distorts the roles parents should play in their children’s lives.

What we are witnessing is an assault on the foundational institutions and values that have held society together for centuries. But rest assured, this is not surprising—it’s part of a calculated movement to reshape society according to an increasingly perverted understanding of freedom and rights. In doing so, they are willing to sacrifice the most sacred of relationships—that of a parent and child—on the altar of ideological extremism. And that is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions.