California May Want a Piece of Your Child

Even before Gavin Newsom took a shot at Ron DeSantis in his own backyard, it was suspected that he had designs on the presidency. But the people who managed to empty the Golden State with their policies now apparently want to repopulate it with children who are seeking gender surgery, puberty blockers, or cross-sex hormones. California, it seems, is not content to upend the lives of its own citizens. It must reach its tentacles across state borders to grab the most vulnerable and impressionable among us.

National Review notes that the California legislature has passed SB 107. You can read the full text of the bill here, but it essentially gives California jurisdiction over children who flee or are brought to the state for sex-change surgery or therapy. Here are some noteworthy passages:

(c) No state or local law enforcement agency shall cooperate with or provide information to any individual or out-of-state agency or department regarding the provision of lawful gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care performed in this state.

(d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the investigation of any criminal activity in this state which may involve the performance of gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care provided that no information relating to any medical procedure performed on a specific individual may be shared with an out-of-state agency or any other individual.

(c) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a provider of health care, health care service plan, or contractor shall not release medical information related to a person or entity allowing a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care in response to any foreign subpoena that is based on a violation of another state’s laws authorizing a criminal action against a person or entity that allows a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.

A child could be taken to California by a non-custodial parent or even an acquaintance of the child for treatment. And if you as a parent try to intervene, you could be faced down by law enforcement, the courts, and California’s family service agencies. And you would likely lose.

So, if your child wants to change his or her gender and you object, he or she can go to California and get whatever treatment his or her heart desires at the moment. And there won’t be a thing you can do about it.

In retrospect, I never had to worry about changing gender or species. But from the time I was in high school to the present day, my worldview has changed significantly. I started college wanting to be an actor, which evolved into broadcasting. I eventually settled on a major in religion with aspirations of becoming an Episcopal priest. Naturally, I ended up in radio. Even now, at age 55 and counting, I look back and wish I had been a marine archeologist. And of course, I started out as a devoted lefty before evolving into a conservative. I alternate between being amused and embarrassed at the person I once was. Many of the things I embraced as a teenager seem absurd now. For that matter, some of the things I embraced in my 30s seem absurd now. The difference is that you can change political views and careers. The changes that come with surgery, hormones, and drugs are in most cases impossible to reverse. And children, whose brains are still forming, will be making decisions that will forever alter and, in some cases, may even shorten their lives, or make them almost unlivable.

The language of the bill gives the impression that its purpose is to protect children from abusive parents that would try to prevent a transition. I understand abusive parents. I could write a book for you. But, every child since Cain and Abel has believed that their parents did not understand them and that they alone possessed the wisdom of the ages. And yes, transgenderism is very popular for now. For now. Mastectomies, hysterectomies, and castration are all permanent. Even if you change your mind when you mature.

This goes beyond parental rights, and it goes beyond states’ rights. This is about encouraging children to make decisions that will impact their entire lives, based on the whims of popular culture. This is about a group of people who will stop at nothing to legitimize their life choices and make other people participate in them. Collateral damage be dammed. Or in this case, praised.

You are not entirely powerless here, at least not yet. If you are reading this, you have access to some sort of device, phone, tablet, or computer. You can find the email addresses of your federal and state legislators and that of your state attorney general. You can demand that they take action, either through legislation or the courts. Even if you live in a blue state, you can still make your voice heard.

As of this writing, Gavin Newsom has yet to sign the bill. Does anyone want to take that bet?