Who Controls Your Children? An Increasingly Pitched Battle in California Reveals a Dystopian Future for Parental Rights

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The California government is sending a very clear message to every parent under its jurisdiction: Your kids don’t belong to you, or to God — they belong to us.

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The great English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton once said that “There is a resilience in parental affection that defeats all attempts to extinguish it.” One can only hope that he was right, as the California government is putting every parent’s affections to the most extreme test right now.

Yes, dark skies are rolling over the Golden State when it comes to the issue of parental rights. And the storm clouds are gathering from two different directions. As conservative, Christian, and freedom-loving parents watch them blow in, they are left wondering if they need to take their kids and flee California in order to avoid a downpour that, when it is all said and done, might wash away their parental rights entirely.

First, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to sign a bill that would allow (and all but instruct) judges to consider it in the “best interest of the child” whether (or not) parents “affirm” the chosen gender identity of their child when ruling on custody matters (the same factor could also potentially be extended to social services decisions).

The bill is sponsored by Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, and is known as the “Transgender, Gender-Diverse, and Intersex (TGI) Empowerment Act.” In her own description of the legislation, Wilson says:

“AB 957 empowers parents who support their TGI children by clarifying once and for all that affirming a child’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child, allowing courts to consider a parent’s affirmation of their child’s gender identity when making decisions about visitation and custody. The bill will also require courts to strongly consider that affirming a child’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child when one parent does not consent to a minor’s legal name change to conform with the minor’s gender identity. AB 957 will provide affirming parents the support they need when encountering civil procedures in court that pertain to affirming and uplifting the lives of their TGI children.”

Back when this monstrous bill was working its way through the state assembly, I explained that

“If this legislation becomes law, the ramifications are horrifyingly obvious: If two parents are locked in a custody fight for their children and one of the parents has a Christian worldview on sex and gender and won’t “affirm” their child’s desire to live a “transgender” lifestyle, then the court will take their kid away and award custody to the parent who will.

In other words, this is legalized discrimination against parents who believe in the reality of biological sex.”

And during the committee hearing on AB 957, State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, actually encouraged parents to “flee” California.

“In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophied—I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting. I’ve changed my mind on that. If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee.”

His warning rings out all the more loudly now that the bill has passed both the California House and Senate and been sent to Gov. Newsome for his signature — which he is expected to provide.

Once this bill is law, it’s “lights out” for parents in California who want to save their kids from the life-altering, soul-poisoning, and body-destroying madness of transgender ideology. Parents must seriously consider heeding Sen. Wilk’s admonition — “You need to flee” — as an act of love for their children and obedience to God.

Christian parents should know that God gives children to them, not to the government. This is both a matter of biblical teaching and, once upon a saner time, established legal jurisprudence in the United States.

But, as I mentioned, another attack on parental rights in California is underway in this multi-front war between the state and the citizens over who controls the children. Not only are California lawmakers set to punish parents who want to save their kids from gender ideology, California’s executive branch doesn’t even want parents to know when their children are beginning to “transition.”

CNN recently reported:

“California’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against a local school district over its new policy requiring parents to be notified when a child tells a teacher they want to be recognized by a different gender identity or pronoun than the one listed on their birth certificate.”

In addition, the Attorney General, Rob Bonta, is launching a civil rights investigation into duly-elected board members of Chino Valley Unified School District for voting the way their constituents wanted. Thankfully, these board members are prepared to stand up to the state on behalf of parents. CNN continues:

“Chino Valley Unified School District President Sonja Shaw vowed to fight the lawsuit, denying in a statement posted to Instagram that revealing such information to parents could harm students.

‘If a child is coming to their teacher and asking to be called something other than what they were born as, they’re already asking to be out in the public about it,’ Shaw said. ‘The parent has every right to know about that.’”

Shaw is exactly right, for as far as she goes. Of course, parents have the right to know that. But even more importantly, parents have a right to put a stop to it.

Parents are tasked by God to train their children to know God and obey His commands (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) and to “raise them up in the way they should go” (Proverbs 22:6). One of the first things that this instruction entails is teaching children to accept and celebrate their God-given biological sex.

For the State of California to work against this, and at so many levels, sends a very clear message to every parent under its jurisdiction: Your kids don’t belong to you, or to God — they belong to us.

And that is something that any good parent simply must not stand for. John Calvin once said, “When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers.”

Given how wicked the rulers are in California right now, and how they are working to destroy the most fundamental principles of parental rights, it sure looks like they are a state under ever-increasing judgment from God.

This means that good and godly parents are really left with just one option: To take their kids and flee from the wrath to come.

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