AB421 requires California courts to order parents who do not sign a change of gender petition that has been filed on behalf of their minor child (under 18 years of age) to show cause why the petition should not be granted by filing a written objection.
The Assembly passed AB421 on June 20, 2022, by a vote of 57-1. We have assigned pluses to the noes because authority over the upbringing of minor children belongs to–and is a fundamental right of–parents, not the government. Parental rights are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment. Moreover, Article VI, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution requires that “Judges in every State shall be bound thereby,” notwithstanding “anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary.”