(Sept. 24) Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) actually vetoed a radical anti-parent bill regarding transgenderism. Good. The veto says less about Newsom, though, than it does about how common sense and decency are gaining ground against radical trans ideology.
The California State Assembly had passed a truly monstrous bill this month requiring judges to specifically consider if parents have affirmed their children’s gender identity or gender expression in determining “the health, safety, and welfare of the child.” The bill’s sponsor, Democrat Lori Wilson, specifically said the goal was to make it easier for the state to remove children from parents’ custody if a parent is “non-affirming” of the children’s transgender wishes. In such a case, Wilson said, “that child should not be with that parent.”
On its face, the bill is sickening and dangerous. It would not allow parents to give time to see if the desire to transition to a different “gender” is real or instead just a passing phase. Judges would be obligated to assume that “non-affirmation” of the child’s wish is a mark of what Wilson calls “abuse” by the parent. This isn’t just “judge knows better than parent,” which would be bad enough; this is “legislature stacks the deck by ordering judges to assume the parents are wrong.”
Newsom’s veto message said not a single word about protecting the rights of parents, however. Instead, he wrote: “I urge caution when the Executive and Legislative branches of state government attempt to dictate — in prescriptive terms that single out one characteristic — legal standards for the Judicial branch to apply.” Then he babbled about how his real concern was that the same “prescriptive” approach somehow could be used “to diminish the civil rights of vulnerable communities.”
And Newsom essentially apologized for the veto by kissing up to Wilson and other sponsors…. [The full column is here.]
