California Assembly Passes Bill Making State Transgender ‘Refuge’ For Kids And Parents

The California State Assembly passed a bill on Monday that seeks to establish the state as a sanctuary for children seeking transgender medical treatment, as well as parents who wish to put their children through such procedures.

The legislation, SB-107, appears to be in part pushed through as a response to other states taking action to limit the ability of parents to subject their children to transgender medical treatment.

The bill’s author, Senator Scott Wiener (D) tweeted Monday, “The Assembly just passed our trans state of refuge bill (SB 107) so trans kids & their families can come to CA if they’re being criminalized. States like TX are classifying gender-affirming care as child abuse & threatening to incarcerate parents. CA won’t stand by.”

BREAKING: The Assembly just passed our trans state of refuge bill (SB 107) so trans kids & their families can come to CA if they’re being criminalized.

States like TX are classifying gender-affirming care as child abuse & threatening to incarcerate parents. CA won’t stand by.

— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) August 29, 2022

“California must stand with LGBTQ kids and their families, especially when they’re under attack across the country,” Senator Wiener said when the bill passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee. “SB 107 ensures that California is a refuge state for trans kids and their parents, so they can be safe here. Parents should never be separated from their kids or criminalized for simply allowing them to be who they are. We need to hold firm in our support for the LGBTQ community and stand with LGBTQ youth.”

The senator also pointed out at the time that the measure had moved 19 other states to bring similar “trans refuge state” measures.

The measure says health care providers and contractors “shall not release medical information related to a person or entity allowing a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care in response to any civil action.” Such civil action would include a foreign subpoena centered on a law of another state that allows civil action to be brought against someone who permits such “health care” to take place.

The bill would also allow California courts to intervene if a child is seeking gender treatment in the state.

A California court would have “temporary emergency jurisdiction if the child is present in this state and the child has been abandoned or it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is subjected to, or threatened with, mistreatment or abuse,” but also “because the child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care,” the bill reads.

NEW: The California Assembly has approved SB 107 sponsored by @Scott_Wiener that provides a state of refuge to trans children and their families if they move from a state that criminalizes gender-affirming healthcare @KPIXtv

— Lauren Toms (@laurenetoms) August 29, 2022

It would also prohibit another state’s law from being enforced if it would result in a child being removed from a parent or guardian due to the fact that the parent is putting the child through gender treatment, according to the measure’s legislative digest.

The bill also prohibits members of California law enforcement from knowingly acting in an arrest or extradition of a person because he or she broke the law of another state regarding a child accessing “gender-affirming health care and gender-affirming mental health care.”

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