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General Assembly Democrat Bill Supports Gender Transition at 16 Without Parental Consent

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sherlockj
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Del. Candi King, (D) – House District 2 Stafford and Prince William (Facebook)

by James C. Sherlock

I note that House Bill No. 2091, with Patrons Munden-King, Clark, Hope, Maldonado, Rasoul and Simon does two things:

  1. It modifies Code of Virginia § 20-124.6. Access to minor’s records to permit health care providers to deny a minor patient’s records to parents if, in the provider’s judgment, providing those records would be “reasonably likely to deter the minor from seeking care.”
  2. It modifies Code of Virginia § 54.1-2969. Authority to consent to surgical and medical treatment of certain minors by adding:

“L. Any minor 16 years of age or older who is determined by a health care provider to be mature and capable of giving informed consent shall be deemed an adult for the purpose of giving consent to consultation, diagnosis, and treatment of a mental or emotional disorder by a health care provider or clinic.”

“Deemed by a health care provider.”

Going out on a limb, let’s take gender dysphoria as an example.

Gender Dysphoria is listed in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—the DSM-5. If it was not in there, insurance would not pay for treatment.

The American Psychiatric Association writes:

The Gender Dysphoria diagnosis functions as a double-edged sword. It provides an avenue for treatment, making medical and surgical options available to TGNC people. However, it also has the potential to stigmatize TGNC people by categorizing them as mentally ill.

The ultimate goal would be to categorize TGNC treatment under an endocrine/medical diagnosis.

The “ultimate goal” has not been reached.

So, Democrats in the House of Delegates want parents excluded from medical records, diagnoses and treatments that, for random example only, support the gender transitions of 16-year-olds.

Democrats in the Senate have introduced no companion bill, at least not yet, perhaps knowing that HB 2091 has no chance in the House and thus they will not have to vote on it.

So HB 2091 is a signal.

Of what I will leave it to readers to assess.

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Comments

52 responses to “General Assembly Democrat Bill Supports Gender Transition at 16 Without Parental Consent”

  1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    I doubt this bill will make it out of committee. Seems more like red meat for the far left and a finger poked in Youngkin’s eye.

    1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      I agree. But it just isn’t Youngkin’s eye alone that is the target.

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9831317b213db25acbc8d18e67758c47c93c8ba1d68b77783a6a44d648314de.jpg

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      “Do you find this happens all of the time, crucial point one day becomes a crime?”

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Well, 16 is right in the middle of Virginia’s sex and minority/majority [13,17) laws and is in agreement with laws on birth control, and STD treatment etc.

    Maybe it’ll get to a vote, maybe not.

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      And certainly can be tried as an adult…

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        Approximately 95 percent of youth admitted to youth prisons are for a felony offense.

        I would assume that the percentage tried as an adult would be very low.

        Young people are notorious for making bad decisions. That has been true throughout recorded history and was almost universally understood, at least until gender transitions became all the rage.

        In all but the most serious situations, I support treating minors differently from adults.

        Often, crimes of youth are expunged.

        “Most juvenile records are expunged automatically once the person turns 19, if it has been 5 years since the date of the last hearing. However, if the juvenile was convicted of an act that would have been a felony if committed by an adult, the records are not automatically destroyed. DMV records regarding juveniles are destroyed when the person turns 29.”

        https://www.valegalaid.org/resource/expungements-in-virginia#:~:text=Most%20juvenile%20records%20are%20expunged,records%20are%20not%20automatically%20destroyed.

        1. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          Treating young offenders differently is certainly a desirable equity objective, I.e., determining the criteria for such differences. Clearly, according equity in theses cases compromises equality or equal treatment under the law. Analogously, this approach is also reflected in DEI policies.

          1. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            But the point is, troubled young people are particularly susceptible to influence, and sometimes make very bad decisions. The proposed legislation doesn’t fully appreciate that.

            “It modifies Code of Virginia § 54.1-2969. Authority to consent to surgical and medical treatment…”

            Gender transition surgery cannot be expunged like criminal records. It’s life altering.

            Whatever happened to do no harm?(Hippocratic Oath)

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            If I heard from Conservatives that they think adult transgender is a perfectly legitimate outcome BUT say it’s not earlier in life as opposed to many Conservatives being opposed to transgender in general no matter the age – it might play differently for me.

            I want to hear them say it.

          3. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            I cannot speak for “conservatives,” only for myself.

            I want for other people’s children the same things I want for my own. I would hope that they would grow to be happy, healthy, and productive adults. I greatly fear that becoming cheerleaders for gender transition and excluding parents from the process will ruin countless lives. It grieves me to think about it.

            I hope the best for adults too, but make the distinction that they are better equipped to made life altering decisions. What’s right for a given adult is not for me to say. I don’t necessarily endorse what other adults do, but they may not agree with my choices either. So what?

            Below, I talk about retired Navy Seal Chris Beck who transitioned and now is detransitioning. He takes responsibility for his decision, but also feels that the VA was too quick to prescribe transitioning.

            “Everything that happened to me in the last 10 years, it destroyed my life — no, I destroyed my life. I am not a victim. I did this to myself, but I had help,”

            He recommends age 25.

            “Do whatever you want if you are over the age of 25 … If you are 25 or older, go do surgeries, go do everything you want, you are an adult,” Beck said. “[But] thirteen-year olds should not have to unpack this.”

            https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/12/13/retired-navy-seal-and-trailblazer-transgender-troops-detransitioning-critical-of-va-care.html

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            There’s a lot of ways that kids do harm to themselves, sometimes life long, no?

          5. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Yes, there are many ways to harm oneself, or otherwise screw up your life. It’s always been that way.

            What’s new is adults who throw caution to the wind and cheer on young people rather than urge them to be careful.

            How can a doctor, or anyone for that matter, know what cannot be known? That being, how will a troubled 16 year old view things in the years to come? Will they be happy with a life altering gender surgery then?

          6. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            If we trust a 16 yr old to drive a car or get a hunting license?

          7. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Hardly comparable to cutting off important body parts.

            Not even close.

          8. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            can get themselves and others maimed or killed?

          9. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            If I heard from Conservatives that they think adult transgender is a perfectly legitimate outcome BUT say it’s not earlier in life as opposed to many Conservatives being opposed to transgender in general no matter the age – it might play differently for me.

            I want to hear them say it.

          10. James McCarthy Avatar
            James McCarthy

            Indeed, as some youth require assistance to compete and achieve in school, ESL for example. Equitable considerations like equal pay for women permeate law and society. Virtually every and all equitable applications compromise the idealized notion of equality. But equity and quality can co-exist by agreement.

          11. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Different subject entirely.

          12. James C. Sherlock Avatar
            James C. Sherlock

            I favor treat youthful offenders under a different set of laws. Been that way for at least a century. How do you see that connected with equity or DEI?

    2. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      Which of those examples changes a kid irrevocably?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        All of them.

  4. James McCarthy Avatar
    James McCarthy

    Perhaps the more effective course of action is to grant non-federal suffrage to 16 year olds rather than piecemeal consideration of majority. Over the longer term those votes can become voices for their values.

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      In Virginia, 17 year olds can vote in Congressional and Presidential primaries if they are 18 by the general election date. For a 16 year old to vote in a local election the GA would need to pass an amendment over 2 consecutive sessions. Then it goes to the voters. Pretty high bar. I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. Maybe one day though.

      1. James McCarthy Avatar
        James McCarthy

        It might only require an exception to the Dillon Rule permitting localities to enfranchise.

        1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          I could see this happening one day in many of the suburbs and cities.

    2. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      What distinguishes a kid of 16 from a kid of 15 in this case? Or 14?

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    You object to a 17-year old making an unsupervised decision to donate blood? Sex assignments without parental consent at 16 would be a very minor consequence of the bill.

    1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      Why not 14?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        I dunno, as long as they weigh 100 lbs. you don’t want ‘em passing out.

  6. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    If the legislator is so confident in the decision making skills of 16 year olds why not propose that 16 year olds will have the same rights and responsibilities as an adult. Problem solved.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Virginia’s laws with respect to age are not the same for different things, not uniform:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/079babba2f9d20e26c53b21e77c3ec4d6b0f37d9de3b6b8018c6c85d930a68dc.jpg

  7. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    For some reason, for Conservatives the problem of sexual assignment always boils down to public restrooms. Or, maybe that’s where it all starts for them? Problem solved…

    https://www.lifestyle-a2z.com/wp-content/uploads/cmg_images/75232/rid_9979e5939082999e86b05f61b20451aa/2677917215_e10855064c_o-Science-Fiction-Museum-restroom-Intergalactic-Restroom-The-Most-Creative-Bathroom-Signs-From-All-Around-the-World-scaled.jpg.pro-cmg.jpg

    Dozens of very clever, and yes, even artistic signage…
    https://www.lifestyle-a2z.com/the-most-creative-bathroom-signs-from-all-around-the-world/28?xcmg=1

  8. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    An interesting read :

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e505ba5343847b744b7c0d54eaac779d8e303f83c9154fbdd39aa50c787f1c5.jpg

    https://virginiarules.org/varules_topics/family-relationships-and-the-law/

  9. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
    f/k/a_tmtfairfax

    From an older article.

    JUVENILES AND THE DEATH PENALTY
    ACLU

    “As a society, we recognize that children, those under 18 years old, cannot and do not function as adults. That is why the law takes special steps to protect children from the consequences of their actions and often seeks to ameliorate the harm cause when children make wrong choices by giving them a second chance. The law prohibits people under eighteen from voting, serving in the military and on juries, but in some states, they can be executed for crimes they committed before they reach adulthood. The United States Supreme Court prohibits execution for crimes committed at the age of fifteen or younger. Nineteen states have laws permitting the execution of persons who committed crimes at sixteen or seventeen. Since 1973, 226 juvenile death sentences have been imposed. Twenty-two juvenile offenders have been executed and 82 remain on death row.

    * * *

    “While adolescents can and should be held accountable for their actions, new scientific information demonstrates that they cannot fairly be held accountable to the same extent as adults. Studies by the Harvard Medical School, the National Institute of Mental Health and the UCLA’s Department of Neuroscience finds that the frontal and pre-frontal lobes of the brain, which regulate impulse control and judgment, are not fully developed in adolescents. Development is not completed until somewhere between 18 and 22 years of age. These findings confirm that adolescents generally have a greater tendency towards impulsivity, making unsound judgments or reasoning, and are less aware of the consequences of their actions.”

    * * *

    https://www.aclu.org/other/juveniles-and-death-penalty

    Seems a bit inconsistent. Perhaps, the Delegate could be asked to reconcile the two as she would most certainly oppose the execution of a person for a heinous crime committed while a juvenile.

    I too oppose execution of people for crimes while committed as a juvenile, along with permitting them to make a decision to have body altering surgery without parental approval. Indeed, I would think that the matter should involve the appointment of a guardian ad litem and a court hearing before surgery on a minor would be permitted.

    1. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      “Cannot be fairly held accountable to the same extent as adults” applies to adolescents. Parts of the brain that supposedly “regulate” impulse” control also seems questionable as well as a conclusion that they are not fully developed. Thus, there are some criteria at which adolescents can be held fairly accountable for their conduct.

      1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
        f/k/a_tmtfairfax

        So, Jim, do you really think that a minor 16 or 17 has the mental capacity to make a decision, sans parents, to have body-altering surgery that may be largely permanent, given other legal restrictions and protections affecting minors of that age?

        Frankly, I don’t care how an adult chooses to live her/his life. I don’t care whether they have sex-change surgery. But I sure as all hades believe we need consistency in the law. We protect minors because of their immaturity in many ways. Is it really too much to require them to wait until they are 18 before they have someone cut up their genitals?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Okay to give them driver’s licenses, hunting license?

          1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
            f/k/a_tmtfairfax

            You are comparing surgical removal of genitals and for females, breasts, with driving a car or hunting ducks? Let’s toss in catching a Smallmouth Bass.

            A 16- or 17- year-old cannot marry in Virginia unless he/she has a court order emancipating the minor. In order to obtain a marriage license, the minor must “provide a certified copy of the order of emancipation.” Virginia Code section 20-48.

            Why is it OK to make a 16-year-old wait until age 18 to marry but not to have genitals removed during surgery? I doubt the Delegate could answer that one.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            well, driving a vehicle at 70 mph on a crowded highway, yes. Not ducks or smallmouth, but gun in hand, aiming and shooting with others nearby, yes.

            How about that ” certified copy of the order of emancipation”. Do you agree with that? Would that be appropriate for transgender?

          3. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
            f/k/a_tmtfairfax

            If I still lived in Virgina and were in the General Assembly, I would vote for your bill that would allow a person 16-17 to obtain sex change surgery on their own volition with a certified court order of emancipation.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Lord, we agree! Eureka! Now convince Sherlock!

          5. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Lord, we agree! Eureka! Now convince Sherlock!

          6. James McCarthy Avatar
            James McCarthy

            Again, it’s purely a societal criterion ,not a factual one.

        2. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          There’s not sufficient, credible evidence to contradict or affirm the capacity of 16 or 17 year olds in these instances. For the most part, the age of judgment is made by “ adults” whomever they be, however competent. The existing watershed is only a social judgment.

          1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
            f/k/a_tmtfairfax

            So, if your capacity argument is correct, aren’t Roper v. Simmons (death penalty bar) and Miller v. Alabama (no mandatory life sentence w/o parole) erroneously decided? Keep in mind that the issue is the proposed statute would give 16 & 17-year-olds the right to choose sex change surgery without parental consent. Shouldn’t there be consistency in the law? If the state restricts the right of a 16-year-old girl to marry, how can it be fair to allow another to have sex change surgery? Both situations involve a decision about major life changing events.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            just to add some context with respect to what 15 yr old can do in Virginia:

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e36043f2edeee25d936e2efd47b6ddc3e014c62e572818055e00a999f7437f4.jpg

  10. Ruckweiler Avatar
    Ruckweiler

    First, the trans folks ARE mentally ill. Second, the Democrats are obsessed with this and denying parents knowledge of this mutilation. This so-called “bill” goes nowhere.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      homosexuals also mentally ill?

      1. Ruckweiler Avatar
        Ruckweiler

        Affirmative. That’s my opinion and if you don’t like it then I don’t really care. Should they be sanctioned, no, but stop trying to declare it “normal.”

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          when you say “sanctioned” do you mean legal? or made illegal or what?

  11. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    “The ultimate goal would be to categorize TGNC treatment under an endocrine/medical diagnosis.”

    The problem is, TGNC cannot be determined by any physical test. It cannot be confirmed by blood test, x-ray, DNA or any objective and verifiable means. We can get the diagnosis wrong.

    The proposed legislation says:
    “Any minor 16 years of age or older who is determined by a health care provider to be mature and capable of giving informed consent…”

    Translation:
    Any minor 16 years of age or older who has been sufficiently coached by TGNC advocates.

    Mistakes happen at any age, but we should at the very least include parents who are in the best position to know their children, and more importantly have legal authority over them until age 18.

    Remember Chris Beck, known to most Americans as Kristin Beck? The press couldn’t get enough of Kristin years ago. Not so much now.

    “Retired Navy SEAL and Trailblazer for Transgender Troops Detransitioning, Critical of VA Care”

    “Beck said he knows his announcement will draw ire from critics but wanted to speak out against what he sees is a pharmaceutical and medical industry preying on the young and vulnerable.”

    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/12/13/retired-navy-seal-and-trailblazer-transgender-troops-detransitioning-critical-of-va-care.html

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