Why can't Democrats and leftists just let kids be kids? When they’re not trying to change them into something they’re not (and will never be), they’re trying to eliminate them altogether.

One sign sometimes seen at conservative rallies goes, "No child thinks they're born in the wrong body until a creepy adult deliberately puts that idea in their head."

One of those "creepy adults" is apparently Sen. Ed Markey.

Last month Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr revealed just how "creepy" the Massachusetts Democrat is.

"Democrat Senator Ed Markey wants to ensure that Hollywood can secretly insert & promote controversial gender ideology in children’s programming without any notice or transparency to parents," Carr began.

"Recently, parents have raised concerns that programming promoting transgender and gender non-binary ideologies are being rated as appropriate for young children without providing any information to parents."

And because of those concerns Carr is taking action.

The FCC wants to provide parents with more information so that they can make their own decisions about what is appropriate for their families.

"Senator Markey wants the FCC to shut down that effort," Carr added.

His warnings to TV programmers mirror those of another FCC chairman 65 years ago.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy's FCC chair, Newton Minow, threatened to pull station licenses. Although his concerns were more general, and based on stations' efforts to increase ratings, he also addressed children's programming.

"If parents, teachers and ministers conducted their responsibilities by following the ratings, children would have a steady diet of ice cream, school holidays and no Sunday school. What about your responsibilities? Is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children?" Minow asked.

"There are some fine children's shows," he added, "but they are drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. Must these be your trademarks?"

Violent programming that targets children is one thing; programming that grooms children toward transgenderism is something else entirely. But while the left continues to try, especially in schools, they're getting shot down by the federal courts.

California Assembly Bill 1955, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., in 2024, prohibits schools from forcing educators to disclose a student's sexual orientation or gender identity without the student's consent. It was ironically called the SAFETY Act.

However, last month a three-judge panel of the historically liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Huntington Beach school from using the law to hide students' "gender identities" from parents, citing a Supreme Court ruling favoring parental rights.

America First Legal (AFL) represented the parents in the lawsuit.

"California cannot use state law to force schoolteachers and administrators into a conspiracy of silence against parents," to "intentionally interfere with the parent-child relationship and separate a child from their parent," said Nick Barry, AFL senior counsel.

Another sign that pops up at conservative rallies reads, "A Guide to Women’s Rights: Step One: Let Them be Born."

Abortion proponents took a hit in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, which held for nearly a half-century that women had a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy for any reason.

That decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, held that abortion was a procedure that’s more properly regulated by the states.

Since Dobbs, 13 states have enacted total or near-total bans on abortion: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.

An additional 28 states have abortion bans based on gestational duration, for a total of 41 states, 82%, that have restricted the procedure.

However, post-Dobbs the Biden Food and Drug Administration authorized rule changes to distribute abortion-inducing drugs by mail, thus turning every state into a pro-abortion state, and violating the right of those 41 states to set their own restrictions.

And because they're taken at home instead of in a clinic or doctor's office, they threaten the life of the mother.

As many as one in five women suffer from complications after a chemical abortion, including hemorrhaging and infection, sending women to hospital emergency rooms — a rate that’s four times greater than complications arising from surgical abortions.

A quote often attributed to the late Indian lawyer, activist, and politician Mahatma Gandhi goes, "The greatness of a civilization can be judged by how it treats its weakest members."

When educators care more about transitioning students than teaching them, when an unborn child is treated as an object to be kept or thrown away, and when an expectant mother in crisis is mailed chemicals that endanger her health, we're not living up to that standard very well.

We can do better. We just need to concentrate on what's important: Life, Liberty, and happiness.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read more Michael Dorstewitz Insider articles — Click Here Now.