Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families.

We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square!

1. YOU’RE INVITED: Join Us This Saturday at Our Next Mama Bear Workshop in Western NC

Sending a child to public school does not mean parents forfeit their fundamental right to know and influence what their child is being taught. Parents have long exercised local control over public education to ensure their court-recognized right to oversee their child’s learning and upbringing is respected. Unfortunately, progressive activists have increasingly used schools as a tool for social change, often at the expense of parental input.

Join us for tomorrow’s Mama Bear Workshop on March 29th from 10am-1pm at Radiant Church in Arden, NC, where you’ll learn how to protect children from harmful curriculum and ideological indoctrination. Tickets are only $10 and include lunch. Half of all ticket sales will be donated to Samaritan’s Purse to support their efforts in rebuilding Western North Carolina.

Get Your Ticket: https://ncvalues.org/workshop

2. ABC11: Reactions to the Women’s Safety and Protection Act (SB 516)

“Wake County set records for tourism in 2016 despite the passage of HB 2. . . . Advocates for SB 516 said this is a different bill coming at a very different time.

‘This bill is not HB 2,’ said Tami Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the NC Values Coalition. ‘This is about protecting women and girls in vulnerable spaces. It’s about defining the terms male, female, man, woman, and sex according to biology.’

Fitzgerald said she believes that the public will back the legislation and that it could even receive some support from across the aisle.

‘This is a nonpartisan issue. It’s about common sense. And basically, people are waking up to the harmful effects of gender ideology,’ she said.”

Read more: https://abc11.com/amp/post/small-businesses-weigh-north-carolinas-new-bathroom-bill/16086661/

🚨 Urgent: We need to help share more stories like Payton McNabb and Riley Gaines. If you are or know a girl or woman who has had to share a bathroom, locker room, or overnight sleeping facility with a trans boy or man, would you consider emailing us your story at [email protected]?

3. GOOD BILLS: Four Critical Pieces of Legislation

The NC Values team has been hard at work since before the start of North Carolina’s long legislative session, advancing key bills that uphold the pro-life, pro-family, and pro-freedom values you care about. Thanks to your continued support, we’ve been able to advocate for policies that protect vulnerable children, safeguard parental rights, and preserve the dignity and safety of women.

We’re excited to share with you that our hard work is beginning to bear fruit. Recently, four important pro-values bills have been introduced in the NC House or Senate.

Here are these four critical pieces of legislation that need your support:

1. Women’s Safety and Protection Act (SB 516): Defines sex by biology and keeps private spaces single-sex.
2. Parents Protection Act (SB 442): Protects parental rights in custody and adoption decisions.
3. Parents Medical Bill of Rights (HB 519/SB 759): Requires parental consent for minors’ medical treatment and access to records.
4. Baby Box Bill (HB 139/SB 91): Allows anonymous infant surrender through safe baby boxes.

We’ve also recently made it easier than ever to contact your state senators and representatives and ask them to support these critical bills. You can also now use the page’s bill tracker to follow these bills throughout the legislative process.

Read more: https://ncvalues.org/four-critical-pieces-of-legislation/

4. BAD BILLS: Here’s Some of the Worst Bills We’ve Seen Filed So Far

While NC Values is advancing pro-life, pro-family, and pro-religious freedom legislation, radical activists are pushing several bad bills. We wanted to share some of the worst ones we’ve found so far.

First among the list is H492, which seeks to repeal the Parents’ Bill of Rights, stripping parents of authority over their children’s education. H502would allow minors to undergo harmful gender transitions and use taxpayer funds to pay for them. S459 proposes repealing the Marriage Amendment, while S467 seeks to codify a right to abortion. H494 bans life-saving counseling for individuals seeking to leave an LGBT lifestyle, and H500 adopts the ERA, which has been used to promote abortion and gender ideology. Other bad bills include H452, a state version of the FACE Act to silence pro-life prayer and protest near abortion clinics, and S323, which allocates $9 million to distribute condoms on school campuses.

These bills reflect the extreme agenda that LGBT and progressive activists will impose if they gain power—undermining parental rights, attacking religious freedom, and endangering preborn lives.

5. HAPPEL RULING: Huge Win for Parents at NC Supreme Court

The North Carolina Supreme Court has issued a landmark ruling in Happel v. Guilford County Schools, affirming that parents have a fundamental right to control the upbringing of their children under Article 1, Section 19 of the state constitution. This includes the right to consent to medical treatments and make critical medical decisions on behalf of their children.

We’re proud to have contributed to this victory by filing an amicus brief in the case, defending parental rights and ensuring that the government respects families’ authority over their children’s well-being.

This ruling is a major step toward restoring parental rights in North Carolina and sends a clear message: Parents know what’s best for their children.

Read more: https://ncvalues.org/happel/

Weekly Prayer: Officials

LORD, you also have instructed us to pray for our governing officials, and we come to you in the spirit of this petition. We pray for our state government and its executive, legislative, and judicial servants. May they indeed be servants unto the people, and govern in a manner that protects liberty and virtue. In the same spirit, we pray for public servants across our local governments. May they all heed your mandate in Romans 13:4 to be in positions of authority as “God’s servant” and for the “good” of the public. They govern in what we confess are difficult times. May they plead with you to give them wisdom, and may your grace to govern wisely be poured out on them.

Protect us from the oppression and loss of freedoms that other countries have experienced, and help us to value and preserve freedom, which we know comes only from You.

“I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free.” Acts 7:34

Amen

Sincerely,

Tami & Team

NC Values