California Democrats are threatening the visitation rights of divorced or separated parents who don’t "affirm" their gender-confused child’s identity under a last-minute change to a proposal meant to protect children from abusers.
The Democrats have put forward two bills that would change California family law to make "gender affirmation" part of a child's health, safety, and welfare, trying to pass them side-by-side. The first, which was introduced earlier this year, would allow judges to remove custody from "non-affirming" parents. The second would force custody judges deciding visitation rights to consider "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity or gender expression," according to language added to the bill last week that will take effect if the first proposal passes.
Neither bill defines what "affirmation" means, leaving it to judges to decide if it includes irreversible puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and genital surgeries. Nor does it specify what age a child should be before his or her preferred identity should be unquestioningly "affirmed."