On Wednesday, Abigail Martinez testified at a California Judiciary Senate hearing about the potentially deadly consequences of a pending bill that would remove children from their parents’ custody, if they refuse to acknowledge the child’s chosen gender identity.
Martinez described how her 16-year-old daughter, Yaeli, was removed from her custody by Child Protective Services due to the efforts of her school counselor and a group of LGBTQ activists. Martinez explained that her daughter was not truly transgender, but instead struggled with serious mental health issues. Rather than address those issues, Martinez testified, Yaeli was put on testosterone and “the LGBTQ group used her to raise money for them.”
Although the accusation of Martinez was ultimately dismissed, her daughter suffered irreparable physical and mental harm, as a result of the hormone treatment. Yaeli eventually took her own life.
In Martinez’s eyes, however, her daughter “was murdered by gender ideology.”
The bill before the Judiciary Senate, AB 957, would allow the state of California to remove children from parents who fail to affirm their child’s stated gender ideology, and potentially subject parents to child abuse charges for their failure.
“If you love your children, you need to flee California,” California state Sen. Scott Wilk, one of two Republicans on the California Senate Judiciary Committee, bluntly told parents who are concerned about the bill.