“Gender Affirmation” is the New State Religion

This commentary originally appeared on The World And Everything In It.

The same political party that fights to mutilate children in the womb is also waging war to mutilate children outside of the womb. The latest evidence of this violence-obsessed dogma is the passage of a bill titled AB 957 in the increasingly totalitarian state of California. In a vote of 61-16 (with 3 abstentions), the Democratic Party passed an outrageous piece of legislation that threatens the very nature of parent-child relationships in the state. In a custody battle, the new law gives a judge the right to penalize a parent who does not affirm bogus genders and non-biological sex. That parent could be stripped of any rights to his or her own child – including custody or visitation.

Every vote against the unconstitutional legislation was from Republicans who make up only 18 members of the legislature. Every vote for it was from the Democrat supermajority that comprises 62 seats in the assembly.

The bill is unambiguous in its direct attack on the family. You either bow to LGBTQ ideology or the state can sever your familial bond. AB 957 states: “This bill, for purposes of this provision, would include a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity or gender expression as part of the health, safety, and welfare of the child.”

So, if one parent is dead-set on amputating his daughter’s breasts due to the child’s public school-induced confusion, the other parent who opposes that life-altering harm couldl be considered unfit. In that case, the state would be encouraging child abuse.

How did “it doesn’t matter what two people choose to do in the privacy of their own home” turn into politicians’ public meddling into others’ homes? Where is the evidence that embracing homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism provide better “health, safety and welfare” to any child?

Thanks to an onslaught of propaganda from news media, social media, Hollywood, the music industry and professional sports, children are inundated with false gender ideology and plenty of junk science. It’s no wonder that, according to Gallup, 19.7% of Generation Z and 11.2% of Millennials identity as “LGBT”. Compare that to 3.3% of my generation (Gen X), 2.7% of Baby Boomers and 1.7% of the Silent Generation.

I can’t be silent about this. I have worked with too many broken teens whose rejection of their design led to terrible self-harm and hopelessness. This is why it’s simultaneously heartbreaking and encouraging to hear the testimonies of detransitioners. When the State demands you can only affirm a pro-LGBTQ perspective, shouldn’t everyone question why?

According to BBC investigative journalist and author, Hannah Barnes, withholding transgender medical interventions for minors has never been shown to cause a higher rate of suicide. Barnes, by the way, embraces “transgender” ideology but says common therapies like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones do not improve outcomes. Puberty blockers like Lupron have known and frequent side effects such as depression, anxiety, arthritis, and bone fractures.

Yet these and many other negative physical and mental health outcomes are rarely discussed or entertained by Democratic politicians. They’ve made it clear they would rather affirm feelings than confirm facts.

UPDATE 09/22/23: Governor Newsom surprisingly vetoes AB-957. Some say it has to do with possibility of Newsom’s presidential run.