WASHINGTON—Forty-seven House Republicans have sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission's Chair Brendan Carr urging the agency “review of the TV Parental Guidelines to ensure that children are not being indoctrinated with radical gender ideology behind their parents' backs.”
The July 13 letter was sent in response to an ongoing FCC probe into how existing content ratings for children might be updated. In announcing the effort with a Public Notice seeking comments on the issue in April, the FCC asked whether the ratings should be revised to include warnings about “transgender” content.
That has prompted a number of filings by conservatives and conservative groups asking the FCC to flag LGBTQ+ content and transgender content.
The NAB and the MPA have filed comments defending the current system, while progressive and liberal groups blasted the FCC probe as an attempt to censor LGBTQ voices.
In its filing Free Press wrote that the FCC proceeding is a “meritless and invalid attempt” to “chill LGBTQ+ content with which its current Chairman may disagree.”
In the July 13 letter from Republican House members blasted Democrats for defending transgender rights and contended that “American children and families are under attack. Parents deserve full transparency from television and streaming services regarding unwanted sexual content in programming rated for children, and it is our intention to provide them with the tools and information they need to make informed choices for their families.”
“Democratic opposition to protecting our children is divorced from reality,” the letter said. “Sex-rejecting content should never be targeted at children. Democrats go so far as to state explicitly in their letter [to the FCC] that transgender content in media will `improve self-acceptance’ among children experiencing gender dysphoria and confusion. American families do not need to expose their children to indoctrination, which can cause mental health disorders. We should be fighting to uphold families' rights to protect their children from harmful ideology, not grooming children behind their parents' backs in the name of `self-acceptance.’”
The letter also noted that two of the Republicans had introduced legislation on the issue that “would codify the FCC's efforts by requiring neutral disclaimers indicating that a program contains certain gender ideological themes.”
The full letter is available here.
