A Black Mom Explains How the Civil Rights Movement Was Hijacked to Allow Men in Girl’s Bathrooms
Deborah Owens
August 9, 2022
My name is Deborah Owens, and I am the mom of two young children who I refuse to allow to be targeted for indoctrination about gender identity.
I’m also the executive director of the Coalition of Americans for Action and Principles – at least, that’s our name now. Formerly, we were known as the Coalition of African American Pastors, but we changed that name to reflect our wider membership and our priorities.
Yes – while the Left is obsessing about racial identity, there are some of us who still believe that principle and character trump everything.
Our organization really rose to prominence during the fight for traditional marriage. That was when we saw the beginnings of a worrisome trend that has now completely taken over our national discourse.
I’m talking about the LGBT hijacking of the civil rights movement.
Let me tell you a little about the Founder of CAAP, my husband, Rev. Bill Owens.
Bill first became politically active during the civil rights movement – the REAL civil rights movement.
You see, Bill grew up in Tennessee in the days of Jim Crow, when segregation was still the norm. He worked hard to get an education, and during his college days, became involved with the fight for racial equality.
In those days, they trained civil rights marchers to endure the abuse of others and turn the other cheek – even when faced with violence.
Bill marched with Dr. King and other legends of the civil rights movement. Like his contemporaries, he was inspired by the principles of freedom and democracy. He loved our country and wanted to make it better.
You know what he did not march for?
He didn’t march for gay marriage. And he definitely didn’t march so that a biological man could use a woman’s locker room or compete in women’s sports and call it “equality.”
Over the past several decades, a terrible thing has happened in our country. The Left has hijacked the civil rights movement and used it to promote an agenda that is about special treatment, promiscuity, and gender ideology.
And you know what? We let it happen.
Because they did this in the name of “civil rights” and “equality” and “love”, too few of us were afraid to speak up and stop it.
Of course, there are exceptions.
Like the pastors in Houston who stood up against a lefist mayor who threatened to silence them for organizing against a transgender bathroom bill. CAAP was there to help defend the pastors and the First Amendment.
In fact, we have been involved in this issue since the beginning, organizing boycotts against companies that embraced transgender bathrooms (like Target) and those that tried to bully cities into adopting transgender policies (like Paypal – to this day, I still don’t have a Paypal account because of their bully tactics).
Unfortunately, too many people are still cowed by that false title: “civil rights”
Let me ask you – is it “civil rights” to counsel young children about gender identity in school, even instructing teachers to use the kids’ “preferred pronouns or names” over a parent’s objection?
Is it “civil rights” to promote puberty blockers, surgery, and irreversible medical treatments for minors based on vague ideas about “gender identity”?
Is it “civil rights” to allow a biological man to take women’s sports’ scholarships or compete against female athletes?
No.
None of this has anything to do with rights or equality. It is a politically-driven effort to override biology with a fringe ideology.
And it is destroying our culture.
Even now, you will find educated professionals and influential policymakers who will refuse to tell you what the definition of a “woman” is.
That’s right, a question a 2-year-old could answer can stump a justice of the Supreme Court.
And this is all because the left has hijacked the mantle of civil rights.
Let me tell you: it’s time to take that title back.
Let’s take back civil rights in the name of every parent who has the right to oversee their child’s education and pass on their values.
Let’s take it back for our first amendment freedom to follow Biblical teachings on marriage and family … and to speak the truth about what a woman is.
And let’s take back the title of civil rights for the women who are being pushed back into secondary status by men who call themselves female. Not for the feminists who helped get us into this mess, but for our daughters, sisters, and granddaughters who will suffer as a result.
This our new civil rights movement, and like the men and women who marched for racial equality in the 50s and 60s, we will do it for the love of our country. Because we believe in America and what it stands for. And we want to save it for those generations to come.
Note: This speech was prepared for presentation at the Stop the Title IX Take-Over rally, held in Washington DC on August 11, 2022.