California votes on law that will consider it "child abuse" not to support children's gender identity

A rule that making it illegal for parents to not support their children's gender identity is advancing in the California Congress. After it was passed in the state Legislature, Democratic Senator and LGBT activist Scott Wiener amended the language to include "affirmation by a parent of a minor's gender identity as part of the health, safety and welfare" of the child. If this new definition is approved, parents could be charged with "child abuse" for opposing sex change procedures for minors or even for refusing to use their children's preferred pronouns.

The path of AB 957 began on Feb. 14, when Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, who drafted the bill, introduced the text before the chamber. The California Assembly passed it on May 3, and it went to the Senate, where co-author Wiener introduced the amendment that, if approved, will completely change the concept of child care in California.

Changing the concept of the child’s best interest

According to current legislation, the custody and visitation decision of the children "requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including, among other things, the nature and amount of contact with both parents and the health, safety, and welfare of the child."

Wilson's paper deleted the parenthetical portion of the above text and added that "This bill would require a court, when determining the best interests of a child, to also consider a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity." Wiener's amendment goes a step further by removing the need for the courts to intervene, making the latter the decisive criterion:

Parents could lose custody of their children

With this new definition, and in accordance with section 3011 from California’s State Family Code, California courts could remove a child from his or her parents' home just because the parents disapprove of LGBT ideology, as they would be violating the new concept of "health, safety and welfare." This change would also affect schools, churches, hospitals and those organizations that interact with children. All would have to affirm gender transitions in minors or risk being accused of child abuse.

"We need to protect parents from politicians"

The amendment has provoked the reaction of numerous organizations and personalities condemning the radical nature of the regulation and pointing to the consequences it may cause. Michael Shellenberger even goes so far as to say that "we need to protect parents from politicians seeking to persecute them for resisting life-altering drugs and irreversible surgeries for their children."

The organization Hechos Ley Verdad Justicia has mobilized to collect signatures and asked its followers to write to legislators to ask them to vote "no" to the bill.