Two California lawmakers have proposed three pieces of legislation that aim to restore parental authority in public schools, allow parents to opt their children out of any instruction involving gender ideology, and ban boys who identify as female from competing in girls’ sports and sharing bathrooms and locker rooms.

State Assemblywoman Leticia Castillo, a Republican, announced two of the bills at a press conference outside the state Capitol in Sacramento on Feb. 14.

“California must return to being a state where parents feel safe to raise their families and instill their values without fear of government interference,” Castillo said. “After all, parents are the primary educators of their children, and children belong to their parents, not the state.”

Assembly Bill 600 (AB 600) would allow parents to opt their children out of any instruction related to transgender concepts at school and give parents the right to sue school districts that do not comply with these parental choices.

“As a mental health provider, I have witnessed the alarming trend of vulnerable kids, those struggling with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other challenges as they adopt transgender identities,” said Castillo, who is also a psychotherapist.

She said this path often leads to medical interventions including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and “irreversible” surgery.

Yaeli’s Law

Assembly Bill 579 (AB 579), Yaeli’s Law, is named after Yaeli Martinez, a teenage girl who identified as a transgender boy. Abigail Martinez, the girl’s mother, lost custody of Yaeli to the state when she was 16 because she refused to call Yaeli by a male name and pronouns. While in foster care, Yaeli was given testosterone, suffered excruciating pain, and, at 19, committed suicide.

Yaeli’s Law would allow parents to call their child by his or her legal name and refer to him or her with pronouns that reflect their sex and not gender identity. It would also acknowledge parental authority to refuse so-called gender-affirming care, such as social and physical gender transitions for their child, and clarify that such parental decisions do not constitute child abuse, neglect, or endangerment and do not justify state intervention in child custody or welfare.

The bill would also ensure that parents who are falsely accused of abuse have the right to sue those who make false claims.

For three years, Martinez faced an emotional abuse claim and was eventually found to not be an abusive mother, said Erin Friday, an attorney and co-leader of Our Duty, a group that rejects gender ideology.

“But it was too late because Yaeli became a dependent of the state, and during that three-year period, the court ordered testosterone use for this young, confused girl,” Friday, whose own daughter once identified as transgender, told The Epoch Times preceding the press conference.

Parents of gender dysphoric children have to contend with the fear of either “affirming” their child’s trans-identity even when it may be ephemeral and lead a child to irreversible medical harm or “[rolling] the dice on whether Child Protective Services is going to investigate them and they lose custody of their child,” she said.

Martinez, whose story is featured in the docudrama “Gender Transformation: The Untold Realities,” blames the so-called gender-affirming policies of the state and the courts, as well as Yaeli’s high school and transgender activists, for the tragedy.

Excluding Boys From Girls’ Sports

A third bill, authored by state Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a Republican, seeks to restore sex-segregated sports teams, bathrooms, and changing rooms based on “immutable sex” and not fluid gender identities in conformance with Title IX.

“President Trump’s actions to save girls’ sports on the federal level have been critical to our fight here in California, but this is just the beginning,” Essayli said, referring to President Donald Trump’s recent executive actions.

“We know the state of California is going to do everything it can to resist and avoid compliance with federal law, so it’s our role to try to force change here at the state and local level.”

State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat, a staunch proponent of gender-reassignment procedures, and an LGBTQ caucus member, criticized the new legislation.

He told The Epoch Times via text message that Trump and Republicans are “distracting people by demonizing and targeting transgender people” to divert attention away from the administration’s tariffs and illegal immigration enforcement, which the lawmaker described as “deporting essential workforce.”

“Trans people are less than 1 percent of the population. Politicians who target them—instead of focusing on issues that actually impact people’s lives, such as cost of living—increase the risk of violence against trans people,” Wiener wrote.

He said the lawmakers who introduced the bills are “fueling a dangerous and slanderous culture war against trans people.”

Detransitioners

Chloe Cole, who “detransitioned” from attempting to become a male and was placed on puberty blockers and testosterone, is currently involved in a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente and doctors over a double mastectomy she underwent at 15 years old.

She urged “every legislator” in the state to support the bills.

“California is completely ignoring the rights of our parents, just saying no to being informed about their children and what they’re going through and the true nature of what transitioning will actually do to a child,” Cole said.

Cole, now 20, is one of a growing number of detransitioners who have suffered irreversible damage and deeply regret proceeding with varying stages of gender transition. 

“I still have flashbacks. Sometimes I have dreams. Sometimes I see myself in the mirror in my waking life as a young man, and I can’t put into words how terrifying that is to see something that isn’t there anymore haunting me for years to come,” Cole said. 

“Now, these are not organic feelings. There is no such thing as being born in the wrong body, and to allow a child to believe that is incredibly harmful to them.”

Title IX Investigations

The Department of Education announced that it is investigating San Jose State University and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) as well as the Minnesota State High School League for alleged violations of Title IX.

The alleged violations include allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports and use women’s intimate facilities against the executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.

Candice Jackson, deputy general counsel for the federal education department, issued a statement on Feb. 5 saying that the president has “demanded an end to the insanity of men in women’s sports” and affirmed that “this administration will protect female athletes from the danger of competing against and the indignity of sharing private spaces with someone of the opposite sex.”

Trump said in his inaugural address on Jan. 20 that the federal government will recognize two genders: male and female.

Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, responded to the investigation into California Interscholastic Federation’s policy supporting transgender athletes, saying the protections have existed for years “without issue.” 

“We strongly support the (CIF) and their long-standing policy allowing transgender students to compete in accordance with their gender identity. This policy aligns with California law and the fundamental principles of fairness and inclusion,” Hoang said in a Feb. 12 statement.

He called the education department’s investigation a “politically motivated attack and part of a broader effort to weaponize the government against transgender youth.”

Hoang said Equality California will continue to advocate for transgender youth, their families, and CIF and defend policies that promote inclusion and equality.

Equality California, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the state, has denounced Trump’s stance against gender ideology.

A New York Times/Ipsos survey of 2,128 respondents conducted between Jan. 2 to Jan. 10 found that 79 percent of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think male athletes who identify as female should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

Melissa Batie-Smoose, a former assistant coach of the Spartans Women’s Volleyball team at San Jose State University, told supporters that she was fired for filing a Title IX lawsuit against the NCAA and Mountain West Conference.

She said she filed the complaint to protect women and the integrity of female sports after finding out one of her players is male.

Smoose said she wasn’t told she would be coaching the athlete before she took the job and moved her family across the country.

“I just assumed I would be coaching all females,” she said.