Washington State sued for usurping parental rights by hiding gender transition treatment of minors from their legal guardians under a new state law.
By Eileen Griffin
America First Legal is suing Washington state officials to stop a bill giving the state rights over parents.
The conservative group, America First Legal (AFL), is suing Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D), and Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families Secretary Ross Hunter, My Northwest reports.
In the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on August 18, AFL claims the law violates constitutionally protected religious freedoms as well as the due process clause of the 14th amendment.
The new law (SB 5599) gives the state the right to withhold information about a minor when a parent is searching for their child.
Heartland Daily News previously reported on SB 5599 after the bill passed and was signed by Inslee. The bill allows a runaway youth seeking transgender support and medical services for “gender affirming” care to evade their parents while they undergo treatment.
The lawsuit alleges that the Washington state law infringes on parental rights, The Center Square reports. This policy would allow minor children to ignore the guidance and direction their parents provide.
The AFL’s complaint also claims the state law would allow children to receive medical care, potentially even surgeries, without parental approval. It sets up a system where the state acts as the parent with no clear process for releasing a child back to the family.
“In short, this statute allows shelters and homes to keep children at locations without
their parents’ knowledge and refer those children for health interventions without their parents’
knowledge or approval. It does not require children to be returned on any particular timetable or under any particular conditions,” the suit reads.
AFL President Stephen Miller said this law will result in the sexual exploitation of children, in an August 16 press release.
“This sick, authoritarian law essentially allows the state to kidnap children from their parents and hide their whereabouts to surgically and chemically mutilate them—and to formally deprive their parents of any legal ability to stop the medical disfigurement of their sons and daughters by gender extremists targeting their children,” Miller said.
Even if a parent’s only argument against gender transition is asking the child to wait until he or she is 18 years old to make such a significant decision, the parent can lose the child to the state.
Semi Bird, a Republican running against Inslee for governor, told Heartland Daily News he believes the state has no right to separate children from their parents.
“Without hesitation I assert that parents are the primary stakeholders in the lives of their children, not the state,” Bird said. “It is our duty to champion the cause against policies that seek to marginalize parents within our public-school systems. I firmly uphold that children must remain at the forefront of their parents’ lives, and I am committed to defending parental rights and the well-being of our youth.”
Bird said, if elected, he will reverse policies that prioritize the state over the parents.
“I hope that the lawsuit by America First Legal will prevail in preventing the implementation of Jay Inslee’s disconnected policy, which permits the separation of children from their parents without their consent or awareness,” Bird said. “Nevertheless, if this legal effort falls short, rest assured that I will rectify this policy once I assume office in 2024.”
Earlier this year, a referendum was initiated that would have given voters the opportunity to overturn the law, but the organizers failed to gain enough signatures for the issue to be included on the ballot.
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