Dust-Up as Assembly Passes Bill to Prohibit Schools from Notifying Parents about ‘Gender Confused’ Kids

There was a serious dust up Thursday in the Assembly over Assembly Bill 1955 by Assemblyman Chris Ward (D-San Diego), the bill to prohibit schools from notifying parents if their child is “gender confused.” During floor debate, Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) spoke about how morally and legally wrong it is to cut parents out of the discussions over a gender confused child. He also brought up his bill from last year which would have addressed this, but Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Jim Wood interrupted him, and when Essayli challenged the interruption, and noted that he is always interrupted by Speaker Wood when he speaks on the Assembly Floor, Wood cut his mic off.

Essayli said the Democrat leadership was like “the Chinese Communist Party.”

A vote to allow Essayli to continue with floor debate failed. Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) was called to speak on the bill, and started talking about his own coming out as LGBT. Essayli raised a point of order because Zbur was talking about his personal life. Essayli said he had a second from Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, and Assemblyman Dr. Corey Jackson (D-Los Angeles) challenged it. Essayli said something inaudible, and then Assemblyman Dr. Jackson aggressively got out of his seat toward Essayli, when he was restrained by Assembly colleagues, as this video shows. 

KCRA’s Ashley Zavala caught this video.

Calmatters’ Alexei Koseff posted this:

What a hot mess. This could have been avoided if Speaker Wood had just let Assemblyman Essayli speak. But dissent is not allowed anymore.

Calmatters’ reporter Alexei Koseff posted this on X/Twitter.

The question Koseff posed to Assemblyman Essayli was flagrant.

“Do you work for the Democrat Party?” is an appropriate question for many in the Capitol press corps, especially as some in the Capitol press reflexively took the side of the supermajority silencing dissent. Essayli said he did not plan on causing a big disruption.

The Assembly took a recess for the caucuses to meet. When they returned, Essayli was restored three minutes to finish his floor speech. He said the bill presumes that school boards want to “out” trans kids to parents. But that’s not at all what school boards are passing, he said.

Essayli explained that school boards are merely saying that parents are to be notified within three days when a child is changing their personal information on school records – a name, gender, etc… Essayli said the child is already “out” at school, so this is not an actual “outing.”

He reiterated, “nobody cares more for kids than the parents.” And “schools are a mandated reporter.”

“School districts have no right to withhold this information from parents.” And he noted that courts across the country have upheld this legal right.

So how do schools get around the mandatory reporting, or even involving parents when a child appears “gender confused?” The opportunity for predatory abuse of said child is wide open.

Here is what AB 1955 Assembly Floor Analysis says:

“Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to develop resources and strategies to support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ+) students and their families; prohibits an employee or contractor from being required to disclose any information related to a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the student’s consent; prohibits public schools from enacting or enforcing any policy requiring an employee or contractor to disclose any information related to a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, without the student’s consent; and requires that any such policy be invalid.

Laws across the country state that a parent must meet a child’s basic needs and parent in a way that serves the child’s best interests. Parents also have a financial duty to raise and support their children, as well as their children’s basic needs of food, clothing, housing, medical care, and education. This usually continues until each child reaches the age of 18.

A parent must also serve a child’s emotional and physical needs and protect the child from abuse. Most parents are pretty clear on all of this.

Yet the California Legislature continues to try to replace parents with school counselors, teachers, mental health providers, abortion providers, “gender-affirming” trans care specialists, or any number of adults willing to give vaccines, feed kids drugs, provide opposite-sex hormones, authorize gender surgeries, and get them treatment for sexual violence and rape – without a parent being any the wiser.

The California Senate already passed AB 1955 the Globe reported.

Thursday, the Assembly passed AB 1955 on party lines, 60-15, and is headed to the governor’s desk.