This isn’t 1957, why do we need public television? That is the question posed by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt. The governor defunded PBS in his state citing ‘really problematic’ LGBTQ content on the station. He did so when he vetoed a bill last week that would have funded operations of the state’s PBS station, Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) through 2026. He said the station indoctrinates children.

Despite the critics, Governor Stitt is not backing down and he is not apologizing for the veto. It’s an outdated system, he said.

“OETA, to us, is an outdated system. You know, the big, big question is why are we spending taxpayer dollars to prop up or compete with the private sector and run television stations? And then when you go through all of the programming that’s happening and the indoctrination and over-sexualization of our children, it’s just really problematic, and it doesn’t line up with Oklahoma values,” Stitt told Fox News Digital.

Stitt doesn’t want to use taxpayer dollars to “prop up some person’s agenda.” That has been the complaint from conservatives for years – PBS presents a liberal to the progressive point of view in its programming. Even in the programming for very young children, the messages coming forth can seem like indoctrination, not education. Sure, there is “Sesame Street,” “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” and “Clifford The Big Red Dog.” There is also a drag queen reading “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish, ” too. The drag queen, Lil Miss Hot Mess, is also the book’s author. At the end of her reading, she leads the children in singing the song, which is to the melody of “The Wheels on the Bus.” It’s a segment in the “Let’s Learn” program.

You’ll hear him at the end thank everyone for having him read his book. Then he says, “I think we may have some drag queens in training on our hands.” He says they can find their “inner fabulousness.” That is how someone who has an agenda to normalize drag queens and drag shows to very young children speaks. Some people call it grooming, instead of using the word normalizing. It’s all wrong. It’s confusing to young children. It isn’t something that they need to be exposed to at such tender ages. That book targets very young children. It’s no coincidence that he just happened to choose that song to parody with his song lyrics.

The state PBS network will stop its operations this year unless the state legislature overrides the governor’s veto.

The governor points to other OETA PBS programming as problematic.

The governor’s office also pointed to a “PBS Newshour” feature on parents’ support for various gender care treatments including puberty blockers, a gay character in “Work It Out Wombats” which airs on OETA, PBS Kids’ “Clifford the Big Red Dog” introducing LGBTQ characters, a plethora of Pride Month programming on OETA, a special about a town of Christians and drag queens who “step into the spotlight to dismantle stereotypes,” and a same-sex wedding featured on PBS Kids’ “Odd Squad.”

While critics have pushed back against the notion these programs help indoctrinate children, the governor doesn’t believe they’re particularly educational, either.

“When you think about educating kids, let’s teach them to read and their numbers and counting and letters and that kind of things,” Gov. Stitt said. “I mean, some of the programming that we’re seeing… it just doesn’t need to be on public television.”

Programming aimed to draw adult audiences should be critiqued differently than for children, especially young children. Teenagers can handle some programming about LGBTQ topics but it isn’t appropriate for elementary or kindergarten students. They don’t understand sex and they don’t think about sex unless it is something they hear from adults.

It is a different world today than it was when OEA first aired its original programming 67 years ago. Free market conservatives can point to the abundance of media and streaming services available today. Public television stations are outdated.

“There’s so much television, there’s so much media,” Stitt said. “Maybe in 1957, you could have made an argument that you needed a public television station. That’s outdated at this point.”

“All those towers and our communications, that’s all owned by the state and whether we continue to fund an outdated public television station with taxpayer dollars, or we let the free market work, we’re still going to have the same capabilities, the same assets, the same towers,” he said.

“Our DPS system is what rolls out the Amber Alerts, for example. None of that’s going away,” Stitt continued. “So that’s just people confusing the issue, not being clear with their mission, trying to make excuses of why the tax dollars should still fund this outdated system.”

Governor Stitt banned all sex reassignment procedures for minors in the state, including irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies last week. There are 15 other states with similar laws.

Until level-headed people start standing up and speaking out about the damage being caused to the next generation, brought on by the radical progressive left, nothing will change. How many minor children is America prepared to lose before enough is enough? Their physical and mental health is on the line. Adults may do as they wish. Children have to be protected.