Katy Faust is co-author of the new book, “Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children’s Rights Movement,” and director of the non-profit Them Before Us. She joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to explain why adult desires often take priority over children’s rights.
“Whether its the definition of marriage, whether you’re looking at divorce, whether you’re looking at reproductive technologies, whether you’re looking at adoption or birth certificates or polygamy or whatever it is, if you look at all those issues from the child’s perspective and through the filter of children’s rights to their mother and father, you get the right answer,” Faust said.
“Children are harmed when they lose relationship with their mother and father, and all of society is harmed if we can’t defend these fundamental rights,” she continued.
While, Faust noted, it’s an unpopular opinion, taking care of children requires sacrifice and doing hard things like adults restraining themselves and prioritizing the rights of kids over their own desires.
“Look at the kids’ lives and tell me: Was it worth it? Their turmoil. Their struggles. Their diminished outcomes,” Faust said. “You’re messing with a child’s whole life here.”
“Sometimes that happens through tragedy, but when it happens because an adult places their own self-identification or their own sexual desire or their own romantic inclination over the rights of a child, that’s an injustice,” she continued.
You can order Faust’s book here.
