California moves forward with bill that would charge parents with child abuse if they do not endorse their children's gender identity

On Tuesday, the California Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill allowing parents to be charged with child abuse if they do not support their children’s gender identity.

AB 957 will move to a vote in the Senate after an 8-1 vote (with members missing). The rule was drafted and introduced in the State Legislature by Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, and after its passage in the House, it moved to committee.

Now, parents in California are a little closer to suffering penalties and even facing the possibility of losing custody of their children if they object to sex change procedures or refuse to use the pronouns the minors prefer.

“You as a parent can be deemed abusive if you refuse to medicalize your child. If you refuse to poison your child with cross-sex hormones. If you refuse to stop the natural body growth called puberty. If you refuse to remove your child’s healthy breasts or genitals,” said Erin Friday, an attorney and mother of a child who came to believe she was transgender.

Parents demonstrate against the project

A group of demonstrators gathered near the California Capitol to protest against House Bill 957 and two other legislative proposals that could limit parental rights.

“His job as an adolescent is to explore but not to make any permanent changes. That will affect him lifelong,” opined Arienne Adamcikova, a mother who says she would allow her son to be whoever he wants to be, but without changing his body.

“I cry for the parents who will be like me, helpless to help their children,” said another mother who said she lost custody of her then 16-year-old daughter because she refused to call her by her male name. “That was my crime, a name,” she added.