Christian parental rights organizations are hosting prayer rallies across the nation, in Washington, D.C. and each of the 50 state capitols. On Saturday, the Don’t Mess with Our Kids campaign organized a nationwide spate of prayer rallies to “turn America back to God,” with a particular emphasis on protecting children from gender ideology.
Event descriptions on social media read, “We will PRAY, FAST, & STAND with our families at every state capitol on April 13th. If this is America’s last stand, WE MUST STAND.” The event descriptions also said, “The attack on our children has gone too far. Moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, and many more have had enough. It’s time to take a stand in prayer, fasting, and using our voices!”
The Don’t Mess with Our Kids campaign is spearheaded by the Her Voice Movement, a national Christian women’s prayer network founded in 2017 by Jenny Donnelly. The Her Voice Movement organizes prayer groups comprised of women and mothers who are encouraged to “pray once a month to bring change to every sphere of culture.” In a statement to The Washington Stand, Donnelly said, “Our nation is in a crisis, the family unit is under attack, and one in three Generation Z self-identify as LGBTQ+.” She continued, “The strength of a nation is built on the strength of the family. God is the only hope for America. We must turn back to God.” Donnelly noted, “In many states, we’ve lost the right to govern our children’s medical care, the right to raise them up in sexual purity, and the right to freedom of speech.”
Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand, “This movement of prayer by concerned mothers and fathers will be part of the foundational support needed to inspire Americans to engage our governmental structures on behalf of children and families.” She added, “Modern life is isolating and overwhelming. Gatherings like this one provide the community our hearts long for and the grounding in prayer that is necessary to protect children, families, and our nation.”
Supporters turned up at state capitals on Saturday wearing either pink or blue shirts, to represent their biological sexes, and some of the rallies featured praise and worship music. Speakers included detransitioners, elected officials, educators, parents, and others. Some of the prayer rallies faced opposition. In Raleigh, North Carolina, for example, a counter-rally was hosted, dubbed “Pro-Queer, Pro-Choice,” where protestors cursed at the Don’t Mess with Our Kids participants. In Boston, the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America also organized a counter-rally.
A promotional video for the prayer rallies quoted from President Abraham Lincoln, saying, “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.” The video also featured brief interviews with numerous pastors and parental rights activists. Rob McCoy, senior pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in California, called on Christians to combat evil in the culture, saying, “The biggest problem we’re facing in America is that the church needs to rise to the occasion to contend against evil.” Erin Lee, a mother and the founder of Stop Gender Ideology, said, “The biggest problem we’re facing in America is the spiritual war on our children.”
A similar rally was hosted in Sacramento, California, last year. The California Family Council organized the gathering in support of parental rights, while legislators considered a series of bills that would, among other things, dilute the authority of parent-led school boards, potentially criminalize parents who protest at school board meetings, train teachers to determine whether or not students who identify as LGBT are “affirmed” or “supported” at home, and rewrite state custody laws to allow courts to take children away from parents who don’t affirm “the child’s gender identity or gender expression.” The Protect Kids California coalition introduced a series of ballot initiatives to counteract the left-wing legislation.
Donnelly told TWS that Don’t Mess with Our Kids will be hosting another prayer rally in Washington, D.C. on October 12. She said that she hopes a million Christians will attend “to cry out for America and send men and women back into their local communities to transform culture.”
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
