New York (Knewz) — A California state lawmaker has introduced legislation that, if passed, would make the state a sanctuary for transgender youth and their families, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Authored by Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, the bill would protect transgender youth and their families from legal action in other states if they come to California.
Under the bill any out-of-state judgements attempting to remove children from their parents’ custody because of gender-affirming surgeries, hormone therapy and other transgender medical care would be rendered unenforceable for those who move to California, the L.A. Times reports.
Texas and Idaho have attempted to criminalize health care for transgender minors, but those have stalled. However, several other similar bills have been introduced in Republican-led states in the U.S.
Wiener’s bill, with support from California Democratic leadership, would block out-of-state judgements relating to transgender health care would not be recognized by the state’s courts, according to the L.A. Times.
Wiener’s bill would also flag warrants related to people from out of state receiving gender-affirming care as a low priority in California, the L.A. Times reports.
“What states like Texas and Idaho are doing to trans kids and their parents is unconscionable, and we must send a clear signal that California is a place of refuge for LGBTQ people,” Wiener said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “The history of the LGBTQ community is a history of criminalization and violence: society trying to erase us and then punishing us if we refuse to be erased, whether by death, incarceration, beatings, lobotomies, electric shock therapy, conversion therapy or other forms of violence. California will not be a party to this new phase of deadly LGBTQ criminalization.”
*story by knewz.com
