Republican Gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon was joined today by Rep. Julie Alexander, Rep. Mike Harris, Rep. Steve Carra, State House District 79 candidate Angela Rigas, State House District 78 candidate Gina Johnson, State Board of Education candidate Linda Lee Tarver, and a crowd of concerned parents as she delivered a forceful rebuke of Governor Whitmer and her Administration's failure.
Dixon railed against the progressive assault on parents’ rights and family values, demanded that State Superintendent Rice resign immediately, and called on Gretchen Whitmer to break her silence. She emphasized the need to get back to basics like teaching kids how to read, write, and do math – and to cut it out with all the radical sex and gender teachings.
Dixon's full prepared remarks are below and a recording of the event can be found here.
"As a concerned mom of four daughters, I’m proud to be joined by so many other parents today who only want the best for their child and want to be involved in their child’s education. I’m here because, frankly, our schools have lost their way. Somewhere along the way, radical political activists decided that our schools are laboratories for their social experiment…and our children – your children – are the lab rats.
"But as a mom and as someone running for Governor of this state, I’m here to say, enough is enough. Our schools belong to taxpaying parents, not radical political activists. And we are going to take them back. Too many schools have failed too many children for far too long. It’s a failure of leadership and a failure of character. There are many good teachers that just want to help kids learn. And there are also many political activists that want to use kids as a prop in their progressive assault on parents’ rights and family values. Both can be true at the same time.
"The problem is, if a teacher spoke up and said “Hey, shouldn’t we leave the sex and gender stuff to the parents” – the far-left activists would call that teacher a homophobe or fascist or some other slander and the media would eat it up. That’s how they silence people of good conscience. Through character attacks and intimidation.
"And let’s make something very clear – this is NOT about LGBTQ issues. This is about protecting children, protecting parents rights, and getting our schools back to the basics of teaching kids how to read, write, and do math. Our schools are not doing nearly a good enough job of preparing students to go to college or enter the workforce. The failure of entrenched school bureaucrats to fix what is broken robs children of their future and robs our state of its potential.
"Our schools are way too focused on sex and gender activism and not focused nearly enough on making sure every child learns the basic skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life. For the media who want to say this isn’t happening, allow me to remind you of some things: The Michigan Department of Education is actively training staff to help young kids transition and instructing them not to tell their parents – even if they are on suicidal. Don’t tell us it isn’t happening, it’s on video.
"We have a State Attorney General who says Drag Queens should be in every school – to “lift up kids who are having emotional issues.” Don’t tell us she was joking. She wasn’t. She explained how fun they are for kids. We have school district – like Muskegon – bragging about how their new middle schools won’t have ANY boys and girls bathroom. All gender neutral.
"We have a President that is reinterpreting Title IX after 50 years to make sure biological boys can play on young women’s sports teams, compete against them, take their scholarships, and steal their championships. We have an initiative on the ballot this fall that would let school personnel give young kids puberty blockers behind their parents backs and not talk about it.
"Amidst all this, we have a Governor who agrees. Gretchen Whitmer has said nothing about the latest revelations about the training here at MDE. Nothing. She is silent. Sending out her state COO doesn’t count. We need to hear from the Governor. But we won’t, because she agrees with the radical sex and gender activists. And she is counting on the media here to do her bidding, to whitewash her position, and to gaslight parents. This is a failure of leadership. I say no more
"As Governor, I want to be responsible for outcomes and held accountable for results. Today, I am first and foremost calling for the resignation of State Superintendent Rice. Someone who has such contempt for parents as to instruct staff to hide information from them about their struggling children is unfit to oversee our education system.
"As Governor I will propose reorganizing the Department of Education and the State Superintendent to report directly to the Governor. No more passing the buck to unelected bureaucrats. I want to be responsible for outcomes and to have the people of Michigan hold me accountable for results.
"Right now, Gretchen Whitmer just passes the buck. She sends some staffer out to write a letter and calls it leadership. That isn’t leadership, that’s a responsibility-shirking tactic from a career politician that is well-experienced in the art of blaming someone else for anything that goes wrong.
"We still haven’t heard from Gretchen Whitmer how she feels. Where does she stand? I’m out here every day telling you where I stand. Gretchen Whitmer hides behind dishonest attack ads and weak statements from her employees. That’s not leadership.
"Leadership is being unafraid to say that as Governor, I will protect women’s sports. We will not force young girls to compete against biological boys in the state of Michigan. Ever. Leadership is being unafraid to say that as Governor, I will protect parents’ rights.
"We will ban school personnel from talking to young kids about sex and gender behind their parents backs. Leadership is being unafraid to say that if an adult is caught showing pornographic materials to young children and talking to them about sex in school without their parents’ consent, that adult will be prosecuted just as they would currently if they did that at a bus stop.
"Leadership is being unafraid to say that we can accept LGBTQ people and help struggling kids without pushing life-altering medical procedures on them. Leadership is being unafraid to say that our school needs to get back to basics, teach kids how to read, write, and do math – and cut it out with all the radical sex and gender stuff.
"Our kids are not lab rats for the progressive left. Our schools are not laboratories for social experiments. It is time to put an end to radical sex and gender activism in our schools. And we will, when I am Governor."
