LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Christopher Anthony Lunsford aka Oliver Anthony, the viral singer behind 'Rich Men North of Richmond', is the son of Connie Lunsford, 60, and Stephen Lunsford, 62.
Not much is known about his family due to the vocalist's private nature, but he did open up about using his grandfather's name as a stage moniker.
As the song, 'Rich Men North of Richmond', creates waves around the country, parental rights protestors rallying against Los Angeles school policies that conceal students' gender identities from their parents have supposedly picked up Anthony's song for their cause, as per Fox11 News.
Why are parents protesting against LA school policies?
The demonstration, orchestrated by the collective operating under the Instagram handle 'Leave Our Kids Alone', gathered around 200 individuals on Tuesday, August 22, to advocate for parental notification policies.
Amid the chants of "Stand up, fight back" and "Leave our kids alone," the Los Angeles Unified School District parents took to the street regarding policies that would mandate schools to inform parents if their children express transgender identities, use alternative pronouns, or explore gender identities differing from their birth gender.
The protestors bore a conspicuous banner bearing the message, "Cali parents do not co-parent with Newsom," which alluded to California Governor Gavin Newsom's recent clashes with local school districts over state-endorsed educational content in places like Temecula and Chino Hills.
During the event, the LAPD even took action against a smaller faction of disruptive counterprotesters, leading to reported arrests. Law enforcement established a barrier to maintain separation between the opposing groups.
"This is not about gay or trans people," one speaker said at the rally, adding, "This is about the public school education telling me, you as a parent, what they're going to teach our children. … I'm never given anything before school starts," as reported by Fox News.
Another said, "We're all here today not because we have anything against the gay and lesbian community or families."
They continued, "On the contrary, I feel that everyone should be free to live their lives as they wish … but that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing an agenda shoved down our throats that goes against our God-given parents' values, morals and traditions."
Capitol rally over controversial bills and the demand for student welfare
On Monday, August 21, hundreds rallied at the California State Capitol against several contentious bills, one of which could reportedly permit children as young as 12 to self-enroll in residential mental health programs if enacted into law. Critics have coined this bill the "state-sanctioned kidnapping" legislation.
Further, in defense of keeping students' gender identities private, proponents argue that it safeguards them from potential backlash from families who might not be accepting.
Recently, State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an investigation into whether the Chino Valley Unified School District, located about 30 miles southeast of LA, violated students' civil rights by implementing a parental notification policy.
The Murrieta Valley School Board in Riverside County faced similar scrutiny and criticism from Bonta, who labeled the policy "a forced outing policy."
Across various California school districts, parents have been resisting the state's alleged educational agenda, which apparently emphasizes diversity studies and curricula centered around gender identity.
Governor Newsom's unveiling of a "family agenda" promoting "educational freedom" and eradicating "political censorship" in classrooms has further fueled the debate, as per Fox News.
