Dean Wilson

Just before their meeting wrapped Tuesday, District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson clued his colleagues in to a bill aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ youth that he says is an attack on parental rights.

Introduced in February by Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson (D-Susuin City), Assembly Bill 957, the TGI (Transgender, Gender-Diverse and Intersex) Youth Empowerment Act would include a parent’s affirmation of their child’s gender identity as part of the health, safety and welfare of the child. If it passes, AB 957 would apply in child custody and visitation cases.

AB 957 has already passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dean Wilson told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Friday. He said he wasn’t sure if his colleagues wanted to bring the issue back on a future agenda for discussion, but he wanted to make sure people knew about it so they could weigh in if they wanted to.

“It would make it illegal if a parent decides not to acknowledge their child’s chosen gender,” Wilson told his colleagues on Tuesday. “And that would allow potentially civil action or action taken by the state to remove that child from the parent’s control if they failed to affirm the child’s chosen gender.”

Dean Wilson said he learned about the legislation through a group of his constituents who wanted him to bring it up at Tuesday’s meeting since it’s been moving through the Legislative process quickly. Wilson noted that there’s a short window of time for people to tell State Sen. Mike McGuire, who represents Del Norte, where they stand on the issue.

Dean Wilson said by the time the Board of Supervisors meets again on June 27, it may be too late for them to take action on a letter of support or opposition.

“I’ve sent an opposition letter in for myself, but not as a Board member,” he said.

Lori Wilson, the assemblywoman who introduced the legislation, told the San Francisco Chronicle on June 1 that California must “draw the line in the sand” against anti-trans bills that have proliferated in other states.

These bills include laws banning gender-affirming care for minors, limiting trans athletes’ participation in school sports or forbidding teachers from discussing gender or sexuality in classrooms, the Chronicle reported.

One bill that was introduced in California this year, AB 1314, would require school districts to notify parents if their child is using a different name or gender than the one assigned at birth. That bill was shelved without a committee hearing, the Chronicle reported.

On Friday, Dean Wilson said the way AB 957 is written, it gives a judge the parameters to consider a parent’s refusal to affirm a child’s “desired gender” as child abuse.

That would either give the courts the ability to remove that child from the parent’s custody under California code, Dean Wilson said, or to deny visitation to a parent that doesn’t have custody.

“You may have a supportive position, but even for Democrats, they don’t want to see the deterioration of parental rights or don’t want to see this get pushed to courts,” he said. “And I could tell you, just from my experience when you get into custody wars or separations or divorces dealing with custodies, they can get acrimonious.”

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