Gov. Newsom Signs Legislation ‘Supporting’ or Harming LGBTQ+ Children?

Governor Gavin Newsom announced Saturday that he has signed legislation “strengthening protections and supports for LGBTQ+ Californians, including measures to better support vulnerable youth.”

It’s still not clear to most what constitutional and legal protections LGBTQ+ youth do not have. And with Gov. Newsom vetoing on Friday Assembly Bill 957 by Bay Area Democrat Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, in which a parent could lose custody for not “affirming” or agreeing to a child’s claims about gender identity, it’s clear that he is playing politics and weighing his odds, interested only in the optics. Dr. Houman David Hemmati, a veritable champion of human rights and American liberties during Covid, confirms this:

Here is Newsom’s rundown of the bills he just signed – most of which are indefensible as these are not about helping children, but permanently harming them:

• AB 5 by Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) – “The Safe and Supportive Schools Act”: Beware anytime a politician labels legislation “safe and supportive” – it’s usually the exact opposite:  AB 5 would require LGBTQ+ training for teachers in all of California’s public schools – not just sensitivity training, but training to to be used to target parents who aren’t properly affirming the chosen gender of their child. It is sponsored by The California Federation of Teachers.
• AB 223 by Assemblyman Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – “Change of gender and sex identifier.” Don’t be fooled by that nebbish description of the bill. “Until recently, no country in all of human history has let people legally change their sex. If anyone can become a woman, a man, or another made-up gender as a matter of law, then sex and gender as meaningful categories disappear,” the California Family Council explained. “Please stop and consider the unintended consequences of telling every kid their biology has nothing to do with their gender, then letting them falsify governments regaryding their sex and hiding that as though it never happened.”
• AB 760 by Assemblywoman Lori Wilson (D-Fairfield) – “Public postsecondary education: affirmed name and gender identification.” AB 760 requires UC and CSU to implement a process by which students, staff, and faculty can declare an affirmed name, gender, or both name and gender identification to be used in records where legal names are not required by law. Why?
• AB 783 by Assemblyman Philip Ting (D-San Francisco) – “Business licenses: single-user restrooms.” AB 783 Requires cities, counties, and cities and counties to notify applicants for a business license or permit in writing of the requirement that single-user toilet facilities must be identified as all-gender toilet facilities. Until the social justice warriors of he 1970’s demanded men’s and women’s designated restrooms, we had “all-gender” restrooms. Go figure.
• AB 994 by Assemblyman Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley) – “Law enforcement: social media.” Democrats are upset about Social media mug shots being used as a tool for public shaming. They become a public record used by other organizations like newspapers. According to law enforcement officials, “AB 994 would prevent the posting of booking photos of a person arrested for a violent crime unless very specific and limited conditions exist.” The bill also requires a police department or sheriff’s office to use the name and pronouns given by the subject of the booking photo.
• SB 372 by Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley/Burbank) – “Department of Consumer Affairs: licensee and registrant records: name and gender changes.” The bill’s author says, “Deadnaming occurs when someone intentionally or unintentionally refers to a trans or non-binary person by the name they previously used.” This bill requires a licensing entity within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to update licensee records if it receives government-issued documentation demonstrating that the individual’s legal name or gender has changed. The Physician Assistant’s Board opposed the bill because it is “concerned with the ease of access to the discipline records associated with the licensee if the Board is required to remove a former name from its online license verification system. This would interfere with the Board’s mandate of public protection.”
• SB 407 by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) – Foster care: resource families: SB 407  a bill by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would ensure that unless all potential foster parents are willing to “affirm” LGBTQ gender and sexuality in foster youth, and any gender transitioning, they will be prohibited by the state from being foster parents. Sen. Wiener introduced his bill during the Senate Human Services Committee in April saying, “We want to make sure we aren’t placing these children in homes where there is hostility towards them.” The “hostile” homes the Senator refers to are religious families. Sen. Wiener said foster youth who identify as LGBTQ need protection from physical and psychological abuse coming from non-affirming foster parents.
• SB 760 by Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) – “School facilities: all-gender restrooms.” Another “all-gender” bathroom bill… This bill requires local educational agencies, County Office of Education, and charter schools, maintaining any combination of classes from kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive, to provide at least one all-gender restroom for pupil use at each of its schoolsites [sic].
• SB 857 by Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) – “Advisory task force: LGBTQ+ pupil needs.” This bill requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, on or before July 1, 2024, to convene an advisory task force to identify the statewide needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and plus (LGBTQ+) pupils. Prepare for a new state agency… From the bill analysis: Equality California (sponsor) claims, “While states across the country are attacking LGBTQ+ students, particularly transgender and non-binary youth. Every student deserves to have a safe and supportive school environment where they can learn and succeed. Unfortunately, while California has passed a number of laws aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students, many school districts lack the resources to implement these laws, face hostile local social climates that impede implementation, or lack awareness regarding existing legal requirements and the best ways to meet them. Equality California says 30% of school districts have not adopted an anti-bullying policy that explicitly prohibits bullying on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. 48% of have not adopted LGBTQ+ inclusive educational materials compliant with the FAIR Education Act. Equality California is encouraging school districts to go ‘above and beyond legal requirements’ in fostering safe and supportive school climates for their LGBTQ+ students and staff. The creation of an LGBTQ+ advisory task force will bring students, teachers, and administrators together to ensure that authentic voices from the community are actively involved in discussions about how to create a safe and supportive environment for LGBTQ+ students, while also providing the CDE with valuable perspectives to ensure that resources are efficiently allocated to implement existing laws and better support LGBTQ+ student needs.” This is gibberish and detracts from the purpose of schools – to educate children.

All of these bills were passed along party lines, and had numerous Democrats abstaining on the votes.

The Globe reported just last week that the Legislature passed five LGBTQ and trans-specific bills, playing legal catch-up, given how much LGBTQ and transgender lesson plans have made it into Kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms:

1. Assembly Bill 957 (Vetoed) by Assemblywoman Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) and co-authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a parent could lose custody for not “affirming” or agreeing to a child’s claims about gender identity, and be charged with child abuse. Perhaps even more disturbing, bizarre, and ironic, in the State of California where the policy of California public schools is to keep “gender” information hidden from parents, how could a divorcing parent even know if they are affirming their child’s “gender identity?”
2. Assembly Bill 665 (pending) by Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles) would allow children as young as 12 years to consent to mental health treatment or counseling without parental approval, consent or involvement. In California it is already law to allow a minor who is 12 years of age to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, “if the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or residential shelter services, or if the minor is the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.”That law, Senate Bill 543 was authored by then-Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) in 2010, and sponsored by Equality California, the National Association of Social Workers California Chapter, Mental Health America of Northern California, and the Gay Straight Alliance Network. SB 543, ostensibly to help LGBT and homeless youth, was signed into law in 2010 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.Carrillo’s bill will remove the additional requirement that the child must present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or to others, or be the alleged victim of incest or child abuse – in order to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services.
3. AB 5 (signed into law) would require LGBTQ+ training for teachers in all of California’s public schools – not just sensitivity training, but training to to be used to target parents who aren’t properly affirming the chosen gender of their child. It is sponsored by The California Federation of Teachers.
4. SB 407 (signed into law) a bill by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would ensure that unless all potential foster parents are willing to “affirm” LGBTQ gender and sexuality in foster youth, and any gender transitioning, they will be prohibited by the state from being foster parents. Sen. Wiener introduced his bill during the Senate Human Services Committee in April saying, “We want to make sure we aren’t placing these children in homes where there is hostility towards them.” The “hostile” homes the Senator refers to are religious families. Sen. Wiener said foster youth who identify as LGBTQ need protection from physical and psychological abuse coming from non-affirming foster parents.
5. Assemblyman Corey Jackson (D-Perris) authored Assembly Bill 1078 (pending) ostensibly to make it harder to “ban” school textbooks in California – but the “school textbooks” Jackson refers to are highly sexualized, and in many cases, just plain pornography. Assemblyman Jackson says “AB 1078 is a bill that intends to combat the national Christian white supremacist movement which aims to ban books, school curriculum, and even more in our schools.” Assemblyman Jackson is using the tortured “national Christian white supremacist movement” to give cover for grossly inappropriate books:  The Globe reported on “Gender Queer: A Memoir” last year, a book found in school libraries across the country which has cartoon drawings of oral sex, masturbation, and describes how to use sex toys. Lawn Boy: featured on MSNBC’s Ali Velshi  Banned Books Club, Lawn Boy is billed as a “coming-of-age story,” but is filled with graphic sex acts between children. The interview with Lawn Boy author is just bizarre. The author insists he uses “course language” throughout the book, and not “graphic language.”More than 35 school districts in 20 states temporarily removed “Lawn Boy” from library shelves.Since then, many states have passed legislation addressing pornographic, obscene school textbooks and library books. Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You: Amazon describes Trans+ this way: “A groundbreaking all-inclusive, uncensored, must-have guide for teens who are living in this world, who identify as transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming, gender fluid, or are questioning their gender identity or how they express themselves, and for their cis-allies and advocates.” The book contains 75 QR codes, marked as “resources” which take children to unbelievably graphic obscene sex websites. CRI posted a short video on Instagram showing where the links take children. Warning: video it contains obscenity and pornographic images. Karen England says Trans+ is available in school libraries across the country.

Whether it is pornographic books in school libraries and textbooks, or whisking away children as young as 12 to receive “mental health treatment” or counseling without parental approval, denying foster parents adoptions unless they are willing to “affirm” LGBTQ gender and sexuality in foster youth as well as any gender transitioning, officially recording permanent name changes, requiring cops to use a subject’s pronouns, or convening an advisory task force to identify the statewide needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and plus (LGBTQ+) pupils, not one of these bills will help children long term, and in fact are destroying children’s traditional understandings of sex and gender.