by Charlotte Hazard
Virginia Democrat State Delegate Elizabeth Guzman has backed down from introducing a bill that would have expanded the definition of child abuse to include parents inflicting “physical or mental injury” on children due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.
The Epoch Times reports that Guzman first began drafting such legislation in order to counter Virginia GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin’s transgender policies in which parents of transgender children had to be made aware if their child wanted to transition or go by a different name at school.
“The day that Gov. Youngkin wanted to implement this policy, I immediately texted the policy lead of that committee and said, this is how we’re going to push back,” Guzman told 7News. The interview about Guzman’s planned legislation with 7News was on Thursday and the backlash was almost immediate as the story went national.
“Children are scared. Governor Youngkin and Republicans are putting LGBTQ kids at serious risk of harm and homelessness by encouraging schools to out children to their parents,” Guzman said in a tweet on Friday.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Youngkin responded, “It’s clear that the goal of Democrat lawmakers in Virginia is to criminalize parents who are trying to be involved in their children’s lives. Children belong to families not to the state and Virginians can count on Governor Youngkin to continue empowering parents in the Commonwealth.”
“Utterly horrifying,” tweeted Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. “These zealots think they are your children’s parents, and they’ll put you in jail if you disagree” in reaction to Guzman’s proposed legislation.
Guzman continued to defend her reasoning for wanting the legislation, but apparently changed her mind on introducing such a bill in the state legislature after Democratic House Minority Leader Don Scott Jr. said Friday that Del. Guzman’s proposal would be “dead on arrival” if it is introduced in the next General Assembly.
“If the child shares with those mandated reporters, what they are going through, we are talking about not only physical abuse or mental abuse, what the job of that mandated reporter is to inform Child Protective Services (CPS),” Guzman continued. “And then that’s how everybody gets involved. There’s also an investigation in place that is not only from a social worker but there’s also a police investigation before we make the decision that there is going to be a CPS charge.”
According to Guzman, this law would have been put in place to “educate parents.”
“It’s educating parents because the law tells you the do’s and don’ts,” Guzman said in the interview. “So this law is telling you, ‘do not abuse your children because they are LGBTQ.'”
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Charlotte Hazard is a regular contributor to Just the News.
Photo “Del Elizabeth Guzman” by Del Elizabeth Guzman.
