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“California’s dangerous and extreme new law is the latest in an onslaught of attacks against parental rights and a demonstration of just how far some governments are willing to go to replace parents as the ultimate decisionmakers of what’s best for children.”
–EMILIE KAO, SENIOR COUNSEL, ADF
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 107, a law which bans law enforcement from cooperating with other states’ laws banning transgender surgeries and treatments on minors and allows California to make custody decisions for children brought to the state for transgender treatments.
California passed the law in response to other states implementing bans on gender-affirming treatments, including Texas, which has designated such treatments to be child abuse. Newsom, who a year ago called for mandatory COVID vaccines for schoolchildren, said, “Parents know what’s best for their kids, and they should be able to make decisions around the health of their children without fear. We must take a stand for parental choice. That is precisely why I am signing Senate Bill 107.”
Many warn the law undermines and takes away parental rights. The law grants the state jurisdiction to make custody decisions if the minor is in the state to receive gender-affirming treatment. The law even legalizes the actions of a person without child custody if they are taking the child to get transgender treatments. The law says,
“In making a determination under this section, a court shall not consider as a factor weighing against the petitioner any taking of the child, or retention of the child after a visit or other temporary relinquishment of physical custody, from the person who has legal custody, if there is evidence that the taking or retention of the child was a result of domestic violence against the petitioner…or for the purposes of obtaining gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care…for the child and the law or policy of the other state limits the ability of a parent to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care for their child.”
Conservative group Family Policy Alliance said, “Newsom’s arrogance is no longer just a threat to California. It’s a threat to every Governor’s authority, every state’s boundaries, every parent’s rights and responsibilities, and—worst of all—to every child. Lawmakers around the country must rally together to protect the children in their state from falling victim to Newsom’s kidnapping scheme.”
Emilie Kao, senior counsel and vice president of advocacy strategy for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), also spoke out about the law’s clear intent to undermine parental rights, stating,
“Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and care of their children, which includes making the best decisions regarding their child’s mental, emotional, and physical health. California’s dangerous and extreme new law is the latest in an onslaught of attacks against parental rights and a demonstration of just how far some governments are willing to go to replace parents as the ultimate decisionmakers of what’s best for children.”
The law comes as contention over transgender treatments and parental rights is coming to a head. Schools around the nation have put policies in place that hide a student’s gender transition from their parents. These schools will use a student’s preferred pronoun and name while the student is at school but use the student’s birth name and biological sex when speaking to parents and on official documents. The schools also start students on gender transition plans, counseling students without letting parents know. Schools claim this is for the safety of students who they claim are at risk from parents.
What’s more, the chairman of New Hampshire’s Democrat Party, Raymond Buckley, recently claimed that some parents would kill their children if schools didn’t hide gender transitions from them. Responding to a conservative commentator, Buckley tweeted, “You’re purposely going after children, endangering their lives, mental health & safety & its disgusting. Not all families are the same, some kids will be kicked out or beaten (to death) or commit suicide.”
The issue has also taken on greater urgency as evidence is uncovered showing that some of the country’s leading children’s hospitals are promoting and performing transgender surgeries on minors. Until recently, many medical professionals and the media claimed that no surgeries were being performed on minors, but that has been proven false by the hospitals’ own internal and website documents, the testimonies of de-transitioners, and video taken at medical conferences.
Even the New York Times reported that hundreds of minors were subjected to transgender surgeries in 2021, including radical bilateral mastectomies. Daily Wire contributor Matt Walsh recently uncovered evidence that Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic has been performing transgender surgeries on minors, something Vanderbilt’s Dr. Shane Taylor described before staff as a “big moneymaker.”
In response, on October 3, the American Medical Association, the American Pediatrics Academy, and the Children’s Hospital Association sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to investigate individuals, organizations, and entities” who they allege are “provoking” attacks against healthcare providers. The signatories also said they have asked Big Tech to censor these voices, claiming that “The attacks are rooted in an intentional campaign of disinformation where a few high-profile users on social media share false and misleading information” on physicians and doctors.
The letter follows the precedent of the National School Boards Association, which sent a similar letter to Garland a year ago asking him to investigate parents who speak out at school board meetings as possible “domestic terrorists.”
Pastor John MacArthur recently sent a letter to Gov. Newsom warning him that he has endangered his soul by living in open rebellion against God. That warning should extend to many in California’s General Assembly as well as politicians and those in the medical and legal field who are promoting and enabling the physical mutilation of children. Over the last few weeks, Newsom has signed a wave of atrocious bills that passed by the legislature and this is one of the most egregious.
In Matthew 18, Jesus called a child to Himself to show His disciples that one must humble themselves as a child to be saved. In verses 4-7 Jesus said,
“Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!”
Leftist politicians, LGBT activists, and those who counsel children to undergo these horrific treatments, forever altering their bodies, and leading them to live a lie are causing great harm to children. These people are stumbling blocks and need to repent.
As Christians, we should pray for those who are knowingly, or unknowingly, corrupting children and ask that God will open their eyes so they can see exactly what they are doing and turn away from their destructive beliefs and behavior before they permanently victimize any more of these little ones.
Ready to dive deeper into the intersection of faith and policy? Head over to our Theology of Politics series page where we’ve published several long-form pieces that will help Christians navigate where their faith should direct them on political issues.
