A newly revised California bill would treat parents' refusal to "affirm" their child's gender identity as a violation of health, safety, and welfare in the context of custody disputes.
The bill, which has already passed the State Assembly, would require judges adjudicating such disputes over transgender-identifying children to favor the parent who "affirms" the child's preferred identity. Earlier this week the authors released an updated version that specifically defines "the health, safety, and welfare" of a child to include "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity"--a change that the bill's opponents worry will open the door to non-affirmation being treated as abuse.
"When you say that gender affirmation is in the child's best interest for health, safety, and welfare, it takes nothing to say [non-affirmation] is now abuse--because you're not taking care of the health, safety, and welfare if you're not affirming them," said Erin Friday, a San Francisco attorney and co-lead of the parent coalition Our Duty.
The amended bill, known as A.B. 957, is the latest in a slate of legislation to enshrine left-wing gender ideology in California law. State senator Scott Wiener (D.), who coauthored A.B. 957 with Assemblywoman Lori Wilson (D.), is simultaneously advancing a separate bill that would require foster parents to promise to "affirm" trans-identifying children. In 2022, he introduced a first-in-the-nation law enshrining California as a "haven" where out-of-state minors can obtain sex changes without their parents' consent.
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Critics, who were already worried that A.B. 957 would wipe out custody or visitation rights of parents who don't conform to gender ideology, expressed alarm over the change in language and how it could lead to abuse claims.
"It's not a giant leap--it's a tiny step to get there," said Friday. "We know exactly where they are going with it. I didn't think the bill could get worse, but it got worse."
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