California declares itself the rightful parent of all transgender children, critics say

As of Jan. 1, California is a so-called sanctuary state for transgender health.

SB 107 – authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco – allows people to seek cross-sex treatment in California, even if their home state limits such treatment. The protection extends to adults seeking treatment for a minor, even if they are not the parent.

As previously reported by The Lion, critics say this bill completely undermines a parent’s right to decide what is best for their child.

The bill “will welcome and protect kidnappers – including parents who have been adjudicated as unstable and unfit to care for their children – as long as the adult absconding with the child says they are doing so to put the child into gender-hormone therapy or some other, Orwellian gender-affirming care,” said Matthew McReynolds, senior attorney with the Pacific Justice Institute.

McReynolds wasn’t the only one outraged with California’s legislative overreach.

“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,” said Emilie Kao, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom and spokesperson for Promise to America’s Parents Coalition.

“In an astonishing disregard for federal law and the constitutional rights of parents, California wants to take away custody of children from their own parents – no matter what state they’re from – and deny families the right to access their child’s medical information,” Kao concluded.

The bill enables the courts to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction” of a child simply on the grounds of the child being “unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”

Though transgender advocates often cite the mental health and suicide rates of transgender youth, they neglect the science of brain development that impedes teenagers from making good decisions.

Experts explain the prefrontal cortex – which aids planning, considers consequences, solves problems and controls impulses – is the last part of the brain to fully develop in young adulthood. Until then, youth rely on their amygdala – which is associated with emotions, impulses, and aggressive and instinctive behavior – to perform those functions.

In California, minors can give consent for some medical treatments, but not cross-sex treatment or sterilization. Infertility is a common problem in the transgender community.

Critics say SB 107 robs parents of their consent and instead gives the state of California the right to mutilate other people’s children – with no accountability to other states.