Truth, Inspiration, Hope.

American Teachers Union Puts Forward Resolution to Change the Term ‘Mother’ to ‘Birthing Parent’

Published: July 7, 2022
birthing-parent-mother-National-Education-Association-Getty-Images-1233775974
US President Joe Biden addresses the National Education Association's (NEA) Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on July 2, 2021. At a recent meeting the NEA proposed a resolution to replace the word “mother” with “birthing parent” in contracts. (Image: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

On June 6, the National Education Association (NEA) teachers union proposed a resolution that, if passed, would replace the word “mother” in contracts to “birthing parent” in an attempt to be more inclusive of the LGTBQIA+ community.  

Resolutions by the NEA — referred to as new business items (NBI) — are said to represent the teachers’ union’s opinions and beliefs, Fox News reported. 

Several resolutions were voted on at Wednesday’s meeting which was attended by approximately 6,000 educators in the Chicago area including both in-person and virtual attendees; however the resolution on the change in language — NBI 63 — was not voted on. 

The proposed resolution read, “Using this contract language, members need not worry about how Board of Education/solicitor defines ‘maternity leave,’ ‘mother,’ and/or ‘father’; the language is an inclusive reflection of how LGBTQIA+ members build families.”

According to Education Week, union delegates propose NBIs and it requires 50 delegate sponsors to bring a NBI to the floor for debate and then to a vote.

Tiffany Justice, a member of a group called “Moms for Liberty” told Fox News Digital that she now refers to the NEA as the “K-12 Cartel” asserting that the NEA is holding parents and children hostage to a “radical agenda.”

“We believe in American teachers, and we don’t believe that the lack of focus that the union has on children is represented,” she told Fox News.  

Nicole Neily, a member of a group called “Parents Defending Education” told Fox News that “normal people” don’t use terms like “chestfeeding” or “birthing person” or “any of that stuff.” “I think it just further underscores how completely out of touch the teacher’s unions … are from the concerns of normal parents,” she said, adding that, “It’s horrifying.”

Elana Fishbein, a member of the group “No Left Turn in Education,” told Fox News that the proposed resolution is a ploy by the left to destroy the family. 

“They are arrogant,” she said. “They are dismissive of the family, the parents. It’s beyond Orwellian. Even in science fiction, I don’t know if you can have such a script of complete destruction of human society,” she told Fox News. 

NEA strikes down COVID-19 resolutions

For the second year in a row NEA delegates struck down a proposed resolution that would have supported a “national policy of mandatory masking and COVID vaccines in schools.”

According to Fox News, in prior years, resolutions were put forward in support of reparations for American people of color. 

“The Association acknowledges that both historical and current practices have systematically advantaged and privileged people of White European ancestry while disadvantaging and denying rights, opportunities, and equality for people of color,” a resolution on racial justice read. 

Yet another resolution urged educators to fight back against “institutionally racist systems.”

A resolution proposed previously read, “The National Education Association believes that, in order to achieve racial and social justice, educators must acknowledge the existence of white supremacy culture as a primary root cause of institutional racism, structural racism, and white privilege,” Fox News reported. “The Association believes that school districts must provide training in cultural competence, implicit bias, restorative practices and techniques, and racial justice,” it read.