In an unexpected turn of events, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the controversial AB-957, one of four new bills designed to undermine the child custody rights of parents who don’t subscribe to the state’s radical gender orthodoxy.
Whether motivated by political calculus or Newsom’s conciliatory assertion that California courts already consider “the parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity” when making custody decisions, the veto demonstrated that the growing chorus of parents troubled by government interference in how they raise and care for their children is making waves even in California.
AB-957 would have required judges in child custody proceedings to consider whether parents “affirm” their child’s gender identity. Such a law would blatantly politicize child custody and violate the constitutionally protected right of parents to choose the best care for their child. By injecting an experimental and controversial standard of care for gender dysphoria into the sensitive and serious realm of deciding child custody rights, this legislation would have coerced parents to bow to the ideological dictates of the state of California or risk losing contact with their children.
Pediatric Gender Regimen Ignores Scientific Evidence
AB-957 would have also pressured parents to assent to harmful and experimental uses of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and even surgeries or risk being found insufficiently “affirm[ing] of the child’s gender identity or gender expression” to maintain custody. Yet a growing body of evidence — including several systematic reviews conducted in Europe — has failed to demonstrate that unnatural puberty blockers, life-altering hormones,
