Senator Marshall Calls on TV Ratings Board to Put Parents Back in Control

Washington - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), sent a follow-up letter to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board demanding reforms to strengthen parental transparency in children's programming-calling out the entertainment industry's continued failure to disclose radical transgender content and other sexually explicit themes hidden inside programming rated for your young children.

The letter builds on concerns Senator Marshall first raised in 2022, when Disney executives publicly admitted to intentionally embedding sexual orientation and radical gender ideology themes into programming aimed at young children. Four years later, the problem has only gotten worse.

Senator Marshall's letter comes as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has launched a review process examining whether the current TV Parental Guidelines adequately equip parents to make informed decisions about what their children watch.

In his letter, Senator Marshall wrote:

"A recent analysis of Netflix children's programming by Concerned Women for America found that 41% of series rated TV-G and 41% of series rated TV-Y7 contained LGBTQ content, messages, characters, or themes - yet none of that content was disclosed to parents through rating information or descriptors.

…Chairman Carr is correct in his assessment that these inappropriate themes and storylines are being put in front of young children without any proper transparency or disclosures to parents.

…It's clear that the entertainment industry has failed to address the concerns of parents, and its ongoing incorporation of inappropriate sexual and ideological themes into children's television demands a response."

Senator Marshall urged the Board to take six specific actions:

• Publish clear explanations of how age ratings and content descriptors are assigned;
• Ensure descriptors give parents timely notice of mature or controversial content, including radical gender ideology themes;
• Improve consistency of ratings across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms;
• Increase transparency around Board membership and ensure family-oriented and faith-based voices are represented;
• Strengthen and publicize the viewer feedback process; and
• Expand awareness of parental controls available on modern devices.

Click here to read the full letter.

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