A Virginia Democrat has introduced legislation that would criminally charge parents if they do not affirm their child’s sexual orientation and gender identity.
Parents could face a felony or misdemeanor charge.
The legislation, which Democratic delegate Elizabeth Guzman plans to introduce in Virginia’s upcoming legislative session, would expand the definition of child abuse so that parents could be charged for refusing to honor their child’s request to be treated as the opposite sex.
“If the child shares with those mandated reporters, what they are going through, we are talking about not only physical abuse or mental abuse, what the job of that mandated reporter is to inform Child Protective Services (CPS),” Guzman told 7News.
“That’s how everybody gets involved. There’s also an investigation in place that is not only from a social worker but there’s also a police investigation before we make the decision that there is going to be a CPS charge.”
WATCH:
????????????????Virginia Democrats to introduce legislation that would allow parents who don’t affirm their child’s “gender identity” to be criminally prosecuted. 1/pic.twitter.com/EO6HdXWmi5
— Ian Prior (@iandprior) October 13, 2022
Virginia state lawmaker Elizabeth Guzman is to introduce a bill making it a crime for parents not to affirm their LGBT childhttps://t.co/oZ9ImGFoq1
— Ben Owen ???????? (@hrkbenowen) October 14, 2022
Virginia: “Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D) has proposed a bill that would add parents who refuse to affirm their child’s gender identity or sexual orientation to the state’s definition of child abuse and neglect.”https://t.co/AP4TljKCkj
— Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) October 14, 2022
7News reported:
Guzman is a social worker and she’s planning on reintroducing a bill in Richmond that she said would help protect LGBTQ children from their parents and guardians who are not affirming of their child’s sexual orientation and gender identity.
Her bill would expand the state’s definition of child abuse and neglect to include parents who do not affirm their child’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
“If the child shares with those mandated reporters, what they are going through, we are talking about not only physical abuse or mental abuse, what the job of that mandated reporter is to inform Child Protective Services (CPS),” Guzman told 7News. “And then that’s how everybody gets involved. There’s also an investigation in place that is not only from a social worker but there’s also a police investigation before we make the decision that there is going to be a CPS charge.”
“What could the penalties be if the investigation concludes that a parent is not affirming of their LGBTQ child? What could the consequences be?” 7News Reporter Nick Minock asked Guzman on Thursday.
“Well, we first have to complete an investigation,” Guzman answered. “It could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know that CPS charge could harm your employment, could harm their education, because nowadays many people do a CPS database search before offering employment.”
“What would you tell your Republican colleagues who say this is criminalizing parents? What would you tell them?” Minock asked Guzman.
“No, it’s not. It’s educating parents because the law tells you the do’s and don’ts,” Guzman answered. “So this law is telling you do not abuse your children because they are LGBTQ.”
National Review added:
Many Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists have criticized Youngkin’s recently announced education policy changes. Most prominently, the new policies prohibit teachers from using personal pronouns “not on a student’s official records.” They also reverse a previous state policy “allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their preferred gender.”
Last month, students across nearly 100 schools staged walkout protests across the state to criticize Governor Youngkin’s policies and defend transgender rights.
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