A Northern Virginia Democrat is once again looking to infringe upon the rights of parents this upcoming legislative session.
Delegate Elizabeth Guzman of Dale City plans to reintroduce legislation that – if enacted – “would expand the state’s definition of child abuse and neglect to include parents who do not affirm their child’s gender identity or sexual orientation, ” per 7News WJLA-TV.
https://twitter.com/Moms4LibLoudoun/status/1580667776343355392?s=20&t=R7tYkNphvU560VXMubew7Q
Guzman told 7News WJLA-TV that the job of a “mandated reporter is to inform Child Protective Services … 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.”
If a CPS charge was in fact made, Guzman said “it could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know that CPS charge could harm your employment, could harm their education, because nowadays many people do a CPS database search before offering employment.”
Still, Guzman does not claim to be criminalizing parents for parenting – instead, she believes her proposed law would be telling them “the do’s and don’ts .. so this law is telling you do not abuse your children because they are LGBTQ.”
Republican Delegate Emily Brewer of Smithfield called out Guzman for wanting to make parents felons:
Parents MATTER. Now @VAHouseDems want to make parents felons? https://t.co/iaRMVZ1sJU
— Emily Jordan (@EmilyJordan4VA) October 14, 2022
Loudoun County parent and Fight For Schools Executive Director Ian Prior shared the text of a 2020 bill introduced by Guzman that had the same goals. He expects the same bill to be re-introduced in 2023. He also promised to make sure that Guzman and her fellow progressive legislators heard parental opposition to their proposal.
3 of the co-patrons lost their seats.
— Nick Freitas (@NickJFreitas) October 13, 2022
Republican Delegate Nick Freitas of Culpeper pointed out that three of Guzman’s co-sponsors on the previously introduced bill did not hold office any longer.