Seeking to offer refuge for trans kids
CONCORD, N.H. — Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are following California’s lead in seeking to offer legal refuge to displaced transgender youths and their families.
The coordinated effort announced Tuesday by the LGBTQ Victory Institute and other advocates comes in response to recent actions taken in conservative states. In Texas, for example, Gov. Greg Abbott has directed state agencies to investigate and consider placing transgender children in foster care, though a judge has temporarily blocked such investigations. And other states have approved measures prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare treatments for transgender youths.
To combat such moves, lawmakers in Minnesota and New York recently filed state legislation on refuges modeled after a California bill proposed in March by state Sen. Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco). Democrats in 16 other states plan to follow suit, although about half of those legislatures are out of session or not currently accepting new bills.
Wiener said he immediately began hearing from other states after introducing his bill, which would reject any out-of-state court judgments removing children from their parents’ custody because they allowed gender-affirming healthcare. It also would make arrest warrants based on alleged violation of another state’s law against receiving such care the lowest priority for California law enforcement.
“We’re sick of just playing defense against what these red states are doing,” Wiener said in an interview Monday. “We’re going on offense; we’re going to protect LGBQT kids and their families, and we’re going to build a rainbow wall to protect our community.”
Also joining the effort are LGBTQ lawmakers in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
Annise Parker, president and chief executive of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, acknowledged that the legislation would probably fail in some states but said it was time to stand against the onslaught of bills targeting the LGBTQ community.
“This is our opportunity to drive the conversation and the debate, and to call on our allies proactively to step up instead of allowing ourselves to be targeted,” said Parker, who was the first acknowledged LGBTQ mayor of a major American city when she led Houston for six years.