By Tim Gamble
The following is from a press release by America First Legal (AFL), dated August 22, 2024. All links are to pages of the AFL website.
8-22-2024 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, America First Legal (AFL) filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to continue its legal fight to stop the enforcement of a bill signed into law by the Washington Legislature last year that allows shelters in the state to take in children struggling with gender dysphoria and provide them with life-altering gender transition services without parental consent or knowledge.
In August 2023, AFL, Schaerr | Jaffe LLP, and local counsel sued the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, the Attorney General of Washington, Robert Furguson, and the Secretary of the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Ross Hunter on behalf of Washington parents and parental rights organizations to stop the enforcement of Senate Bill 5599.
Under this new statute, the state can refer minors for “behavioral health treatment” without disclosing these services or what they entail. This means that young children who run away from home could be receiving chemical sterilization drugs or even genital mutilation without the consent or knowledge of their parents.
This law creates a dangerous incentive for minors who disagree with their parents on “gender-affirming care” to run away to a shelter or host home. Further, it deprives parents of their fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution to direct the care and upbringing of their children.
Yet the District Court found that the parents and organizations could not bring this suit because their children had not yet run away and thus been directly subjected to the new laws. Instead the court dismissed the other concrete harms the parents have asserted as “speculation.” Now, before the Ninth Circuit, AFL and Schaerr Jaffe are arguing that parents do not have to wait until their children have been permanently harmed to challenge these Washington laws.
AFL is proud to continue fighting to defend parental rights and end this radical policy exploiting our nation’s children.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director:
“We are committed to fighting for parental rights, and will gladly stand in the gap to defend the rights of families across the country who are being oppressed by activists obsessed with using state power to advance a radical agenda. SB 5599 is part of a pernicious plan to substitute the judgment of the State for that of a child’s parents, and we are proud to continue to fight for our clients in this matter,” said Gene Hamilton.
Read the brief here.
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