Senator Wiener Responds to Executive Orders Directing the US Department of Justice to Target Transgender Youths’ Teachers, Parents, Health Care, and Civil Rights: “We Will Protect These Kids and Their Families and Teachers.”
SACRAMENTO – This week, President Trump issued two executive orders targeting transgender youth, their families, and their teachers. The orders (1) direct the U.S. Department of Justice to criminally prosecute teachers who affirm transgender and nonbinary students’ gender identity (e.g., by using their pronouns or allowing them to use the restroom); (2) attempt to effectively prohibit transgender youth’s ability to access life-saving health care with their parents’ support; and (3) target California’s status as a sanctuary state for transgender youth under a law (SB 107 2022) authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).
Senator Wiener issued the following statement in response to this avalanche of Trump edicts targeting these children and their parents and teachers:
“No matter how many cruel, illegal attacks Trump launches to demonize, target, and threaten trans young people and their families and teachers, California will have their backs,” said Senator Wiener. “These young people just want to be who they are and live their lives, and Trump and his bigoted cronies need to leave them the hell alone. Trump is making Americans’ lives worse and more expensive with his chaotic, destructive economic and immigration policies, and he’s using trans kids as scapegoats to distract from his lack of a real economic plan for the nation. We must not allow these cruel and brazenly unconstitutional actions to stand. We must use all available resources to protect our transgender and nonbinary youth. We will protect these kids and their families.”
Senator Wiener — in his role as Senate Budget Chair and per an agreement among the Senate, Assembly, and Governor — is authoring budget legislation to provide $50 million to protect Californians from illegal attacks from the Trump administration.
In addition, earlier this month, Senator Wiener introduced Senate Bill 59, the Transgender Privacy Act, to help transgender people seal court records related to their gender transition. He is also exploring legislation related to medical privacy data and expanding California’s sanctuary protections for LGBTQ people and their parents and health care providers.
The January 29th Executive Order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” directs the U.S. Attorney General to:
“coordinate with State attorneys general and local district attorneys in their efforts to enforce the law and file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by: . . .
(iii) otherwise unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.
The January 28th Executive Order Titled “PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION directs the U.S. Attorney General to:
prioritize investigations and take appropriate action to end child-abusive practices by so-called sanctuary States that facilitate stripping custody from parents who support the healthy development of their own children, including by considering the application of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act and recognized constitutional rights.
The order further directs that:
The head of each executive department or agency (agency) that provides research or education grants to medical institutions [...] shall [...] immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.
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