Last week, California attorney general Rob Bonta sued a Southern California school district for requiring parental notification when a child experiences gender confusion by requesting to be called a name or a pronoun that does not match his biological sex.

"For far too many transgender and gender nonconforming youth, school serves as their only safe haven," Rob Bonta wrote on X (formerly Twitter).  According to the California attorney general, parental authority is life-threatening to "far too many children," and he sees "protecting" children from their parents as one of the missions a school should serve.  Democrats now consider parents "intruders" and schools "the refuge" where your children should seek safety from you.  Liberals encourage young and impressionable children to turn away from the safest place available to most kids — their home — and put their trust in people who could not care less.

How do we know that the schools don't care?  Because for many months, California kept its schools closed for the virus that posed no danger to children.  Teachers' unions were the main driver behind school closures, insisting that kids were "endangering teachers' lives."  For many months, teachers' unions cared very little about "the trauma" that "gender-nonconforming" students faced from "abusers," also known as loving parents who put their lives on hold because of school closures.  Teachers' unions also didn't care about learning loss and emotional distress that school closures had on children — especially the most vulnerable ones who did not have an involved parent in the home.  It is these parents, who dutifully guided their kids through brutal COVID lockdowns, who, the liberals tell us, are "dangerous" to their own kids.  According to A.G. Bonta, that pink-haired "gender-nonconforming" teacher who just emerged from his basement after a years-long vacation is now "the brave hero" who has your child's best interest at heart.  He is the only thing standing between you and your kid's impending suicide.

Decades of research confirm that having caring and involved parents is fundamental to a child's success.  Parental involvement is also vital to a child's mental and emotional well-being.  There is absolutely no evidence of any long-term damage from a parent "not affirming" child's fantasies or cowering to the child's demands, no matter what they are.  But the state of California will have none of it.  Those running California want to take authority over your children away from you.  Your duties are relegated to those of a teenage nanny — feeding, cleaning up, and a bedtime story.  As far as emotional support and moral guidance are concerned, you are not remotely qualified.  The State will take care of it.

California Bill SB 145, just signed into law by Gavin Newsom, treats child rape as a minor offense punishable by four years (or less!) in jail and a fine.  Registering as a sex offender also becomes optional for a child rapist, according to this law.  California does not want to punish people who rape kids, likely because misgendering is a far more serious problem.

Gavin Newsom often rants about "oppressive" red states where young girls are "forced into motherhood" because of abortion restrictions.  Governor Newsom is not concerned how a young girl got pregnant in the first place — and most of the time, it's because a grown man raped her, and then a liberal state like California let him go so he can rape another girl.  Governor Newsom conceals his terrible policies that lead to horrific child abuse by faking outrage about lack of "abortion access."

The only time Gavin Newsom finds children useful is when they are victims of a random school shooting.  Whenever a deranged guy with a gun enters school grounds, Gavin's Twitter account manager is there with his phone, tweeting in all caps, putting a period after every word so the gravity of the situation doesn't escape anyone.  But Gavin's X account goes silent when another child dies from overdose of fentanyl coming through the open border.  Gavin does not tweet about children suffering from abuse and neglect because California encourages homelessness, dereliction, and drug addiction.  Gavin does not post a tweet every time a toddler in Oakland is caught in the crossfire, because that child is not a victim of "permissive gun laws."  That child is a victim of drug gangs that Gavin allows to roam free — so her death is not useful to the liberal cause.

California does not care about children.  It cares about advancing progressive causes.  If your child is not benefiting from California's permissive governance, California hates your child.

Tanya Berlaga is a freelance writer, a translator, and a publisher.  She is a former contributor to Right Wire Report, The Liberty Loft, and The Free Speech Movement.

Image: Gavin Newsom.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.