Bill passes in California by a wide margin threatening custody of parents who don’t ‘Affirm’ their children’s preferred gender

Important Takeaways:

  • The California legislature passed a bill Friday that requires a judge to consider whether or not a parent “affirms” their child’s “gender identity” in a custody dispute.
  • Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener and Democratic Assembly Member Lori Wilson introduced the bill in February, with Wiener claiming that the legislation was needed to protect the “health, safety, and welfare of the child,” according to the Associated Press. The bill passed the state Senate Wednesday with a 30-9 vote before making it through the general assembly only days later at 57-16, according to KCRA, an NBC affiliate.
  • “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,” the legislation reads.
  • Conservative commentators quickly took to Twitter after the vote to warn about the potential damage this would cause to parental and religious rights.
  • “California is one Governor’s signature away from the power to remove children from parents who don’t affirm their children’s fake gender identity. This is tantamount to forced sterilization of children,” Nicole Solas, an attorney and senior fellow for the Independent Women’s Forum, wrote in a post. “I know another govt that forcibly sterilized kids.
  • Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk called the bill “anti-parent,” according to a post.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Church of England says defining a woman is complex, associated with Gender Identity

Romans 1:18 “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Important Takeaways:

  • Church of England Won’t Give a Definition of a ‘Woman’, Blames ‘Complexities’ of Gender Identity
  • In his written response, Dr. Robert Innes, the church’s Bishop in Europe since 2014, said: “There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.”
  • But Innes added that there are now “complexities associated with gender identity” and pointed to the need for “additional care” even though the church continues its opposition to same-sex weddings.
  • The Bible teaches there are only two genders, male and female, and marriage in the eyes of God is between a man and a woman.

Read the original article by clicking here.

North Carolina ‘bathroom bill’ settlement approved

FILE PHOTO: A bathroom sign welcomes both genders in Durham, North Carolina May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake

By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) – Transgender people in North Carolina can use any public restroom in state-run buildings that conforms with their gender identity under a U.S. court settlement approved on Tuesday, in the latest turn of a long-running dispute that divided the state.

The settlement, which overturns part of state law, ends a three-year legal fight by transgender people in North Carolina seeking the right to use the bathroom of their gender identity.

A 2016 North Carolina law, known as House Bill 2, required transgender people in state-run buildings use the bathrooms, changing rooms and showers that corresponded to the sex on their birth certificates.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented transgender plaintiffs seeking to block the law in court, arguing it violated their rights to equal protection and privacy under the U.S. Constitution.

“While this part of the court fight may be ending, so much urgent work remains as long as people who are LGBTQ are denied basic protections from violence and discrimination simply because of who they are,” Irena Como, acting legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina, said in a statement.

Some businesses and sports leagues boycotted North Carolina after the passage of the law, which they saw as discriminatory against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Lawmakers in some other states had proposed similar legislation that failed to advance.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder ruled in 2016 that the state’s university system must allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.

Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration also challenged the law in court.

Facing pressure in the courts, the North Carolina legislature in 2017 replaced House Bill 2 with House Bill 142.

The bill stated that the state legislature had the power to regulate bathroom access, but the legislature did not take action at that time to define access.

The new law left transgender people in limbo, according to the ACLU, which amended its lawsuit to challenge the new law.

The ACLU and the group Lambda Legal later reached a settlement with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, the ACLU said in a statement. It went to Schroeder for final approval.

Schroeder, in an eight-page ruling on Tuesday, said the settlement bars state officials from using the legislation “to prevent transgender people from lawfully using public facilities in accordance with their gender identity.”

The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly filed court papers opposing the settlement.

House Bill 142 continues to prohibit cities in North Carolina from creating their own ordinances protecting LGBT people from discrimination until December 2020, and that was not affected by the agreement, according to the ACLU.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; editing by Jonathan Oatis)