CA Bill Threatening Families

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (ChurchMilitant.com) - A California bill advancing through the State Legislature seeks to make the Golden State a refuge for gender-confused minors.

SB 107 would allow out-of-state minors to enter California without parental consent and receive transgender surgeries and hormones, while state courts would take "temporary emergency jurisdiction" of the runaway children.

The sponsor of the bill is State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco.

"Senator Wiener thinks he is making the state a safe haven for kids, but if passed, he will turn California into a threat to every family in the country," warned Greg Burt, the director of capitol engagement with the California Family Council.

Wiener claimed he introduced the bill after seeing "brutal attacks on transgender children" in states where puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and transgender surgeries for minors are considered child abuse.

Wiener's bill would temporarily enable the courts to hold jurisdiction over minors entering the state to seek any gender-affirming care. The proposed bill seems to be aimed at outreach to young children living in states like Alabama, Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma, where legislation has passed or bills are moving towards laws that ban permanently altering the genitals and hormones of sex-confused minors.

Earlier this month, Republican California state representative Kelly Seyarto confronted Sen. Wiener over SB 107. Seyarto challenged Wiener over how the bill potentially violates the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act, which forces states to respect child custody arrangements made in other states.

While Wiener protests that his bill "does not involve rejecting judgments or child-custody judgments," his own committee's analysis of the proposed legislation suggests otherwise.

The analysis notes that the bill "confers a California family court with jurisdiction to make an initial child-custody determination if the presence of a child in this state is for the purpose of obtaining gender–affirming health care or mental health care."

The Assembly Appropriations Committee will have a hearing on SB 107 on Aug. 3. If it passes, the bill will be sent to the California State Senate for approval.

One staunch opponent of the bill is Mark Schneider, a California-based attorney and the president of Protect Our Kids, a group that pushes back against progressive sexual beliefs and anything that hurts the traditional family unit.

"SB 107 would elevate the dangerous practice of 'gender–affirming health care' to a legal status never before granted to a state jurisdiction. It would pit state against state and parent against parent," Schneider commented on the dangers of the bill.

"It would enable grave and potentially irreversible emotional and physical harm to the most fragile of our citizens — our children," he added.

The bill has passed through two assembly committees. During one state assembly, a 17-year-old de-transitioner, Chloe Cole, testified against the bill. Cole explained how she went under irreversible hormone therapy and had her breasts removed as a minor and regrets the decision.

Cole noted how her therapist encouraged her to medically "transition" and "brushed off [her] parents' concerns about the efficacy of hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries."

"My parents," she added, "were given the threat of suicide as a reason to move me forward in my transition."

She explained how, since she was a minor at the time, she "did not understand the ramifications of any of the medical decisions" she made and called for "safeguards in place so my story is not repeated."

Other opponents of the bill have suggested it enables the state to essentially kidnap minors from other states. 

However, the legislation, originally introduced in March, has also invigorated leftists across California.

In March, the mayor of Palm Springs, Lisa Middleton, began working with hotels and tourism organizations to set up shelters for minors who will travel into the state if the bill passes.

Middleton bragged about the Palm Springs liberal-minded community and said she anticipates the bill will pass. "We will be here to greet you and welcome you into our community," she said. "We are [a] stronger community because of the diversity we have in this state. We are committed to diversity and inclusion." 

Registered supporters of the bill are from leftist groups like Equality California, ACLU California Action, NARAL Pro-Choice California and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

Equality California is the largest LGBT activist group in California. Tami Martin, Equality California's legislative director, speculated SB 107 was introduced in response to recent Texas laws against transgender treatments for minors.

In February, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton published a statement where he called out the extreme dangers of performing "transitioning" procedures on minors.

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