A parental rights group has launched a new tool to alert parents to the latest events, trends, and agendas in schools that may be intended to influence their children.
American Parents Coalition (APC) announced this week the release of The Lookout.
The Lookout’s first alert flagged a pro-LGBTQ flyer for scholastic book fairs marketing “educator, caregiver, and advocate resources for supporting LBGTQIA+ youth and books.” According to APC, the materials include a “Read with Pride Resource Guide” with a reading list and glossary defining sexual orientation and gender-related terms.
APC was created in March by Alleigh Marré, a mother of three and former spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration. According to a press release, the organization’s mission is to “put parents back in the driver’s seat through public policy efforts, local and community activism, and demands for further transparency from the institutions influencing our children.”
Marré currently serves as the organization’s executive director. In a statement, she described what led her to start APC:
“Parents across our country are under siege, constantly at battle with corporate interests, activists, and institutions who wish to usurp our parental authority. From family outings to school field trips to doctors’ visits, our children are more at risk than ever of being exposed to malicious political agendas and inappropriate situations.”
APC’s first move was to drop a multimillion-dollar campaign called “TikTok Is Poison.”
“Backed by the Chinese Communist Party, TikTok lacks adequate parental controls for minors, promotes content that glorifies suicide and eating disorders to young audiences, and uses addictive algorithms to elevate dangerous and inappropriate content — all while collecting vast amounts of personal data from its users, including minors,” APC wrote in a press release.
Alongside an array of resources on potentially harmful social media trends, studies on the effects of social media, and more, the organization walks parents through blocking the app on their children’s devices.
As covered by The Dallas Express, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been fighting the recent law passed by Congress requiring the divestment of the app or face a nationwide ban.
Texas has been contemplating its own legal restrictions on minors’ access to social media, looking to Florida’s recent law that blocks children under 14 from maintaining an account without parental approval as a potential model.