March 2022

Rhode Island mother Laurie Gaddis Barrett has testified at so many legislative hearings that she has to pause to remember which one I’m asking her about. And when I ask her why the message she just texted me is written in legalese, she says she’s spent so much time talking to lawyers, she’s beginning to sound like one herself. (I almost suggested she should consider going to law school, but they’re woke now, too.) With all she has learned this past year, she could be teaching civics. For Barrett, fighting for parents' rights has been transformative—and nearly a full-time job. But it wasn’t always.