The American Principles Project (APP), whose mission is “to make the family the most powerful, well-represented special interest group in Washington, D.C.,” issued travel advisories to two states over legislation that attacks parental rights.
The advocacy organization warned parents across the country about the possibility of their parental rights being stripped in California and Minnesota.
According to Fox News, legislation in the Democrat-led states could “give state family courts the power to take temporary emergency jurisdiction over a minor coming into the state to access sex-change drugs or surgical procedures, regardless of if the minor is traveling from another state.”
“Today, American Principles Project (APP) issued an advisory for families considering travel to California or Minnesota due to dangerous attempts by their governments aimed at overriding parental rights,” the APP said in a statement.
“Both states have recently passed laws which legal experts argue could result in even out-of-state parents losing custody of their children,” the statement added.
APP has issued a travel advisory to California and Minnesota after lawmakers passed legislation to override out-of-state parental rights. pic.twitter.com/0dV687WDNG
— American Principles 🇺🇸 (@approject) May 25, 2023
From the APP:
Additional legislation is also being considered in California which would further stack the deck against parents, requiring family courts to “strongly consider that affirming the minor’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child if a nonconsenting parent objects” to their child changing his or her name. Furthermore, California law also prohibits healthcare providers from notifying parents about sex-change procedures being offered to their child, even in cases where the child may be receiving information from California providers from another state.
Cases have already been documented of parents losing custody because of their child’s transgender identification, including, for example, California mother Abby Martinez, whose daughter Yaeli was removed from her home after Yaeli began identifying as a male. Yaeli tragically committed suicide a few years afterward.
Conservatives issue travel warnings against California, Minnesotahttps://t.co/TGYKEXeH0G pic.twitter.com/E9aoeCPZu3
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) May 24, 2023
Fox News reported:
In September, California lawmakers passed Senate Bill 107 that established the state as a refuge for transgender children and their families. The bill was introduced earlier this year by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat.
“California must stand with LGBTQ kids and their families, especially when they’re under attack across the country,” Wiener said in a statement. “Parents should never be separated from their kids or criminalized for simply allowing them to be who they are.”
In April, Minnesota lawmakers passed similar legislation that would establish the state as a “trans refuge” for children who are seeking transgender medical procedures but who may be denied “gender-affirming care” in other states.
In a party-line 68-62 vote, the Minnesota House passed HF 146, which had been introduced by Rep. Leigh Finke of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Finke is the state’s first transgender lawmaker. The Minnesota Senate passed the legislation by a vote of 34-30 on Friday, April 21.
Additional legislation is being considered in California, AB-957, to require family courts to “strongly consider that affirming the minor’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child if a nonconsenting parent objects to a name and gender marker change to affirm conform to the minor’s gender identity.”
This bill would require the court to strongly consider that affirming the minor’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child if a nonconsenting parent objects to a name and gender marker change to affirm conform to the minor’s gender identity.
“Parents will do anything to protect our children. To lose your child and be powerless to prevent harm from coming to them would be any parent’s worst nightmare. Yet today, families traveling to California or Minnesota could be at risk for that awful scenario actually playing out — losing custody of their kids to an industry that aims to sterilize and mutilate their bodies. It is frightening, and enraging, to think such anti-family policies have taken hold here in the United States,” APP President Terry Schilling said in a statement.
“While we have seen great strides throughout the country by lawmakers fighting back against this agenda, we must still be realistic about where things stand. Right now, parents traveling to both these states with their children run a very real risk of having their families ripped apart. Until the terrible laws enabling this abuse are nullified or repealed, parents need to be aware of these risks and plan accordingly,” he added.
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