Dear Michael Farris,
For the last week you have had your supporters bombarding the German embassy with calls, emails, and Facebook comments about the German homeschooling family who lost custody of their children. You have demonstrated your ability to motivate thousands of your American supporters to come to the aid of parents in other countries. Surely you will use this power to come to the aid of other parents whose rights are threatened around the world.
Indeed, there is a grave threat to parental rights in Russia as we speak. Right now there is a bill before the Duma that would strip custody of their children from gay parents. Yes, you read that right. Russia is considering a bill that would deprive gay parents of their God-given rights to their children. Parents who have done nothing wrong. Parents who have never abused their children or endangered them in any way. Parents whose only “crime” is being gay. Parents who love their children and are in danger of losing them to be reeducated by the State.
I’m sure that you can recognize what a terrible human rights abuse this would be. Free nations do not take away children from their parents the way Russia wants to. These children deserve to be raised by the parents who love them, not by some impersonal system that will work to turn them against their parents. This outrageous overstepping of State power by an increasingly totalitarian Russian state needs to be vocally opposed by the rest of the world. This is the kind of thing that happened in the Stalinist era, when children were taken from parents who believed and acted in ways that the totalitarian regime did not approve of. We’re seeing history repeat itself with a new disfavored group facing persecution this go round.
Will you use the power of your organization to speak up against this egregious assault on parental rights? No parents should have to worry about losing their children because they possess traits disfavored by the State. Children will be ripped from loving parents if this bill becomes law in Russia.
Will you join the chorus of voices speaking out against this attack on the rights of parents? Gay parents in Russia need your help. Will you give it, or will you stand idly by as Russia strips these loving parents of their rights?