California is preparing to present itself as a ‘safe haven’ for transgender youths facing discrimination in other states
Democrats in the State Assembly and State Senate have advanced legislation that would make California a sanctuary where parents from other States can bring their children to undergo sex change procedures.
The legislation will provide legal refuge to out of state parents who would risk having their trans children taken away or being prosecuted if they support their children’s access to gender-affirming care.
The State is also positioning itself as a sanctuary for those seeking abortions.
Breitbart reports: On Monday, the legislative body passed Senate Bill (SB) 107 along party lines, with all 19 Republican assemblymembers voting against it and 60 Democrats supporting it. State Senator Scott Weiner introduced the bill, and a release from his office asserted it would “provide refuge for trans kids and their families.”
On Wednesday, Weiner announced it had passed the State Senate and “was on its way to” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) office. It passed the senate by a 30-9 margin, the Sacramento Bee reported.
“California must stand with LGBTQ kids and their families, especially when they’re under attack across the country,” said the Democrat senator in the release, adding:
SB 107 ensures that California is a refuge state for trans kids and their parents, so they can be safe here. Parents should never be separated from their kids or criminalized for simply allowing them to be who they are. We need to hold firm in our support for the LGBTQ community and stand with LGBTQ youth.
The legislation would shield parents who take their children to California for sex-changing procedures from prosecution and criminal penalties in their home states where such practices are illegal. It aims to:
- “prohibit a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from releasing 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 a criminal or civil action, including a foreign subpoena, based on another state’s law that authorizes a person to bring a civil or criminal action against a person or entity that allows a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”
- “prohibit law enforcement agencies from knowingly making or participating in the arrest or extradition of an individual pursuant to an out-of-state arrest warrant based on another state’s law against providing, receiving, or allowing a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care in this state, as specified.”
- “prohibit the enforcement of an order based on another state’s law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on that parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”
- “prohibit a court from finding that it is an inconvenient forum where the law or policy of another state that may take jurisdiction limits the ability of a parent to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care, as defined, and the provision of such care is at issue in the case before the court.”
It comes as a response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) February order to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate certain sex change procedures on children as child abuse, Weiner’s office noted. The directive was issued after the Office of the Attorney General in Texas determined that “a number of so-called ‘sex change’ procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law,” as Abbott wrote in his letter to the DFPS.
Abbott stated that Texas law opens up “all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers,” to “criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse.”