Who’s on Biden’s Parents Council? Al Sharpton, Transgender Activists, and Open Borders Groups

The Biden administration claims it formed the recently unveiled “parents council” to better reflect families’ views in public schools — but its members include Al Sharpton’s community organizing group, activists who lobby to teach “comprehensive sex education” including gender identity theory in school, and open borders groups.

Supporters of the National Parents and Families Engagement Council, announced by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on June 14, praised the board as “a channel for parents’ voices to be heard.” Yet one look at some of the council’s 14 acknowledged members shows it represents a small segment of elitist, left-wing views. Among the groups that the Department of Education cites as council members are:

National Action Network: Al Sharpton founded the National Action Network (NAN) in early 1991 — after his role in the Tawana Brawley hoax, but before that summer’s Crown Heights riots left rabbinical student Yankel Rosenbaum dead, and four years before even deadlier violence against Freddy’s Fashion Mart. The organization formed an “LGBTQ Alliance” in 2015 “to create a new understanding of sexual and gender diversity and to promote” the hiring or participation of gay/transgender people “in all areas of religious and public life” (emphasis added). But Sharpton’s group does not oppose every kind of discrimination: In 2018, NAN lobbied against a Republican resolution condemning Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan‘s decades of anti-Semitic statements. The same year, NAN paid Al Sharpton more than $1 million. Sharpton, who has run for president multiple times, has long ties to the Democratic Party. In 2011, Barack Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent an email telling more than 4,000 federal employees they were “invited” to attend Sharpton’s “Reclaim the Dream” event, a move that straddled ethical guidelines.

Girls, Inc.: Girls, Inc., founded 157 years ago to help young women suffering during the last days of the Civil War, is now outspoken in its support of abortion, “comprehensive” sex education, and gender transition procedures for young people. “We support access to comprehensive sex education and safe, high-quality reproductive health care, including contraception and abortion services,” the group said in a statement condemning “[a]nti-choice bills.” Despite its name, the organization defines “girl” as “a young person who identifies as a girl regardless of her assigned sex at birth, or who is exploring gender identity or expression.” It promotes critical theory, stating that “cisgender girls and young women, transgender girls and young women, and nonbinary individuals [all] experience gender-based oppression.” It promotes transgender transitions at a young age. “Are youth old enough to know their gender identity?” the group asks. “Yes,” beginning at “a very young age,” so “listen to youth.” While “some people prefer to use gender-neutral pronouns, such as ne, ve, ze/zie and xe,” microaggressions are “commonplace,” “daily” occurrences, so members should “[u]se correct names and pronouns” and “own your privilege.” It adds that pretending to be a girl in order to attend Girls Inc. events — such as its “2-night overnight camping trip” for “girl-identifying and non-binary youth” in 4th through 9th grade — “is not something people choose to do.” Despite its purported tolerance, the group states that “gender identity and sexual orientation are marginalized in some ethnic, racial, and religious cultures … this is particularly true of the Latino community.” Its advocacy materials include a link to support illegal immigrants who identify as homosexual, whom it calls “undocuqeer.”

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