Under the guise of protecting transgender-identified children from violence and mental distress, a bill has been introduced to allow minors to seal public records if they changed their sex identifier. The author of AB 223, Assemblyman Christopher Ward (D-San Diego), believes keeping this information secret will protect children from potential violence, suicidal thoughts, or the stress of knowing someone might find out the truth. Yet, he isn’t considering or doesn’t care about the unintended consequences of letting government hide someone’s true identity.
We are all eager to protect and support transgender-identified kids who experience violence and bullying,” said Greg Burt, Capitol Director for the California Family Council. “But our laws should encourage children to love their bodies, not mutilate and sterilize them in order to look like the opposite sex, and then hide the truth from others.”
Over the last decade or so, California laws have continued to push the idea that someone’s sex is determined by their feelings, not their biology. Public schools encourage children to question their sex, teach them it is possible to be trapped in the wrong body, and praise them as brave heroes if they identify as a gender different from their biological sex. It should be no surprise that mental health issues among minors are rising, and that the number of teens, especially girls, who want to take sterilizing puberty blockers and testosterone, and get double mastectomies is at an all-time high.
AB 223 will not change the current parental permission required to change a minor’s gender identity on their official documents, like a birth certificate. This bill has been referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, but no hearing date has been set.
