Now announcing the 2020 Donkey Awards! What are the Donkey Awards, you ask? It’s a part of the inaugural Family Policy Alliance Awards to recognize the best – and worst – political moves of the year. While we’ll be announcing our “All-Star” awards soon (for the best of the best), we’re kicking off with the “Donkey Awards” for the biggest political FAILS of the year.
To do this, we need YOUR input: what was the worst, weirdest, and most dangerous new law or legislation? YOU decide!
Read the descriptions below in each of the four categories (most dangerous, biggest threat, most out of touch, and most bizarre), and then click to VOTE for the one you think should get the “award.” We can’t wait to share the results!
Most Dangerous New Law
The ABCs of the Birds and the Bees
Do you want your kindergartner to learn the dirty deets on the birds and the bees? Washington state sure does! Washington’s new radical and controversial sex education law is now one of the worst in the country. It mandates every public school student take a radical version of Comprehensive Sex Education. Even worse, it requires sex education lessons to begin in kindergarten! The state won’t allow teachers to stress abstinence, and children will be taught controversial content regarding gender identity and the experiences of LGBT students. Planned Parenthood can even come into the classroom and teach! Washington parents put up a huge fight opposing the bill by the tens of thousands, defeating the bill for several years. But this year, the legislature passed the bill anyway. And while parents can request an opt-out for their child, school officials can deny these opt-outs. Washington parents, get ready to do some explaining to your little ones! The Thanos Law
No, the great harbinger of death isn’t actually Marvel’s notorious bad guy Thanos – he’s not real. But Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, and Illinois are the real-life harbingers of death for the youngest members of our society. All four states passed a law known as the Reproductive Health Act that ended all regulations on abortion in the state, including removing protections for babies born alive after a failed abortion and protections for women. Virginia also introduced this law but it did not pass – however, the Governor became famous for implying the law could allow babies that had already been born to be left to die.
Everyone wants to feel special. We get it. And the U.S. Constitution ensures that, yes, everyone is equal under the law. But the federal Equality Act would give special, extra privileges to people based on how they feel about their sexuality. It would force LGBT political propaganda, sexual education, taxpayer funded “gender transition surgeries for minors,” and more on the entire country. It’s both unnecessary and dangerous.
Henry VIII, Is That You?
When Henry VIII was king of England, he wanted a divorce – which the Church wasn’t likely to grant. Rather than checking his own heart, he argued a technicality in hopes the Church would change its stance (and ultimately declared himself the head of the Church in England to avoid the issue). 500 years later, and not much has changed. California legislators recently passed a resolution telling churches how they were failing at showing “love and compassion,” and encouraging churches to change their theologically-based stances on sex and gender. This included calling on them to properly model “equitable treatment of all people.” Sound familiar?
One state apparently wants to raise money for Amazon. Not the rainforest – the online superstore. It’s California – again. Politicians in this state introduced a bill that would require all retail stores to no longer distinguish between boy and girl clothes, and boy and girl toys. This law actually requires retailers to just mix everything up. This will just lead to busy parents spending an infuriating amount of time searching for sex-specific items, giving up, and ordering online. These Out of Touch Politicians must not have young children.
I’ll Make a Man Out of You
Illinois politicians might have taken the famous Mulan song too literally. The state wants a person performing an autopsy to mark the deceased’s likely gender “based on appearance” and to mark sex based on anatomy. So, if Mulan had died in battle, would Illinois have remembered her as a woman? Or a man?
Remember the 90s comedy where dad becomes a sort of stand-in mom (nanny)? If California gets its way that may become everyday life in California. The state introduced a bill that would allow a person who “changes their gender” to automatically have their sex marker changed on their marriage license (regardless of whether the spouse agrees with this) and their child’s birth certificate. Apparently, it doesn’t matter whether the child deserves an accurate birth certificate; it doesn’t matter that California is erasing the meaning of mother and father, husband and wife, and changing history with easily checked boxes. California just wants to be like Hollywood.
Sci-Fi Families
Queue the eerie space music. Some Colorado politicians want to redefine parenthood. According to these politicians, giving birth doesn’t necessarily make you a mom – but being involved in a child’s life could make you a mom. For example, if a grandmother helped raise her grandchild while her daughter adjusted to being a single parent, that grandmother might be able to sue for parenthood. “Parenthood” is reduced to a contract about a child. Yes, it’s creepy.
So there you have it - our list of the 2020 Donkey Award nominees. Now you get to choose the winner in each category. You can check back to see which contestants are leading from time to time. We'll announce the final winners soon.
Don't forget to share this with your friends and family so they too can weigh in and tell us which of these is the worst of the worst.
And be on the watch for our All Stars Honors list coming in just a few weeks. We'll be honoring the best of the best and you won't want to miss out on all the good things we were able to find!
Sincerely, Meridian Baldacci Policy and Communications Strategist
Do you want your kindergartner to learn the dirty deets on the birds and the bees? Washington state sure does! Washington’s new radical and controversial sex education law is now one of the worst in the country. It mandates every public school student take a radical version of Comprehensive Sex Education. Even worse, it requires sex education lessons to begin in kindergarten! The state won’t allow teachers to stress abstinence, and children will be taught controversial content regarding gender identity and the experiences of LGBT students. Planned Parenthood can even come into the classroom and teach! Washington parents put up a huge fight opposing the bill by the tens of thousands, defeating the bill for several years. But this year, the legislature passed the bill anyway. And while parents can request an opt-out for their child, school officials can deny these opt-outs. Washington parents, get ready to do some explaining to your little ones!
No, the great harbinger of death isn’t actually Marvel’s notorious bad guy Thanos – he’s not real. But Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, and Illinois are the real-life harbingers of death for the youngest members of our society. All four states passed a law known as the Reproductive Health Act that ended all regulations on abortion in the state, including removing protections for babies born alive after a failed abortion and protections for women. Virginia also introduced this law but it did not pass – however, the Governor became famous for implying the law could allow babies that had already been born to be left to die. 
Everyone wants to feel special. We get it. And the U.S. Constitution ensures that, yes, everyone is equal under the law. But the federal Equality Act would give special, extra privileges to people based on how they feel about their sexuality. It would force LGBT political propaganda, sexual education, taxpayer funded “gender transition surgeries for minors,” and more on the entire country. It’s both unnecessary and dangerous.
When Henry VIII was king of England, he wanted a divorce – which the Church wasn’t likely to grant. Rather than checking his own heart, he argued a technicality in hopes the Church would change its stance (and ultimately declared himself the head of the Church in England to avoid the issue). 500 years later, and not much has changed. California legislators recently passed a resolution telling churches how they were failing at showing “love and compassion,” and encouraging churches to change their theologically-based stances on sex and gender. This included calling on them to properly model “equitable treatment of all people.” Sound familiar?
One state apparently wants to raise money for Amazon. Not the rainforest – the online superstore. It’s California – again. Politicians in this state introduced a bill that would require all retail stores to no longer distinguish between boy and girl clothes, and boy and girl toys. This law actually requires retailers to just mix everything up. This will just lead to busy parents spending an infuriating amount of time searching for sex-specific items, giving up, and ordering online. These Out of Touch Politicians must not have young children.
Illinois politicians might have taken the famous Mulan song too literally. The state wants a person performing an autopsy to mark the deceased’s likely gender “based on appearance” and to mark sex based on anatomy. So, if Mulan had died in battle, would Illinois have remembered her as a woman? Or a man? 
Remember the 90s comedy where dad becomes a sort of stand-in mom (nanny)? If California gets its way that may become everyday life in California. The state introduced a bill that would allow a person who “changes their gender” to automatically have their sex marker changed on their marriage license (regardless of whether the spouse agrees with this) and their child’s birth certificate. Apparently, it doesn’t matter whether the child deserves an accurate birth certificate; it doesn’t matter that California is erasing the meaning of mother and father, husband and wife, and changing history with easily checked boxes. California just wants to be like Hollywood. 
Queue the eerie space music. Some Colorado politicians want to redefine parenthood. According to these politicians, giving birth doesn’t necessarily make you a mom – but being involved in a child’s life could make you a mom. For example, if a grandmother helped raise her grandchild while her daughter adjusted to being a single parent, that grandmother might be able to sue for parenthood. “Parenthood” is reduced to a contract about a child. Yes, it’s creepy.
