California got rocked by a political earthquake today. Pro-family advocates are outraged over a new California law that pushes schools to deceive parents, essentially telling teachers and administrators to hide the truth about children's requests to change their gender identity.
In response to the new law, billionaire businessman Elon Musk announced he's abandoning California and moving his X (formerly Twitter) and SpaceX businesses out of the state. They'll be setting up shop in Texas instead. He said X will move to Austin and SpaceX will move to Starbase.
Musk's first tweet said, "The state will take away your kids in California."
Musk stated, "This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne,California, to Starbase, Texas... I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children."
This is the final straw.
Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. https://t.co/cpWUDgBWFe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024
The California law was aimed at certain school districts that had created policies to treat parents as allies when their students are suffering from gender dysphoria. LGBTQ advocates in the state legislature passed a law to overturn those local policies, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law.
“This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools, and a member of the governing board or body of those educational entities, from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by law, as provided,” an explanation of the legislation reads.
LGBTQ activists say the law was needed because some households aren't accepting of children's gender choices. Opponents of the law say telling parents about a student's request to change gender identification is "critical to the well-being of children."
The California Family Council (CFC) is condemning Newsom's decision to sign AB 1955, saying it creates a government-imposed wall of secrecy to keep parents in the dark.
CFC President Jonathan Keller said, "Governor Newsom's signing of AB 1955 is a direct assault on the safety of children and the rights of their parents. By allowing schools to withhold vital information from mothers and fathers, this bill undermines their fundamental role and places boys and girls in potential jeopardy. Moms and dads have both a constitutional and divine mandate to guide and protect their kids, and AB 1955 egregiously violates this sacred trust."
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Pro-family lawmaker Assemblyman Bill Essayli also opposes the new law, calling it "immoral and unconstitutional."
"Today, Governor Gavin Newsom defied parents' constitutional and God-given right to raise their children by signing AB 1955, which codifies the government's authority to keep secrets from parents. AB 1955 endangers children by excluding parents from important matters impacting their child's health and welfare at school," Essayli said. "We will challenge it in court to stop the government from keeping secrets from parents."
The Broader Legal Battle
California state officials have been pushing anti-parent efforts even though a federal judge ruled last September that one southern California school district should not keep students' gender confusion a secret from parents.
The California Department of Education (CDE) tried to convince the court that forcing teachers in a San Diego County school district to lie to parents was legal, according to the California Family Council. The court disagreed.
As CBN News reported earlier this year, two San Diego, California-area Christian teachers filed an amended lawsuit in a federal court naming Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and California Attorney General Rob Bonta among other defendants, alleging the educators were forced to lie to parents and hide students' gender confusion.
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