June 12, 2023 - 1:00pm
California has taken two further steps forward in the push to institutionalise the primacy of human desire over human flesh and human relationships.
California bill SB 729, passed in the Senate last month, redefines “infertility” not as a medical condition but a status that can be caused by an individual’s situation as much as by medical issues. Meanwhile another bill, AB 957, passed in May, has amended the state’s standard for what constitutes parental responsibility for child welfare. To be deemed fit for providing for “the health, safety, and welfare of the child,” in a court of law, parents must not merely “consider” but “affirm” a child’s chosen gender identity.
What’s being institutionalised in both instances here is the primacy of desire over aspects of human physiology or relationships that have hitherto been treated as given and “natural”: the reproductive process, the normal development pathway of puberty, and the authority of parents over their children.
In the case of SB 729, an individual or couple (or some other constellation) that desires a baby but doesn’t have male and female gametes and a woman to do the gestating is now defined as “infertile”, on a par with a heterosexual couple that would normally expect to be able to have a baby but for some medical reason cannot conceive. In turn, this legislation requires insurance companies to fund “infertility” treatments for individuals or couples that would never be able to conceive naturally, potentially including gestational surrogates.
Effectively, this legislation redefines normal features of the human reproductive process as medical problems in need of solution, should those normal features conflict with the desires of would-be lone parents or same-sex couples. It then provides for a whole new infrastructure of expensive medical technology and “gestational services” to “cure” biological impossibilities that have been redefined as mere obstacles.
In the case of AB 957, where parents are in a custody battle over a child and part of that custody battle concerns whether the child should be treated as “transgender”, California will presume the parent who resists transitioning their child to be failing in their parental duty of care. Here, the presumptive primacy of desire over organismic givens is asserted on several fronts.
First, puberty is presumed to have already been redefined from a normal process to an expressive option. That is: puberty, once considered simply “natural”, is now understood as an option that may or may not “align” with the desires of a child. And that child, far from being understood as developmentally immature and in need of forming, is reimagined as already capable of expressing those desires consistently and coherently, and of consenting to the extreme medical interventions necessary to remodel “the wrong puberty” in accordance with these desires.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeCalifornia, the land of fruits and nuts
At least fruit and nuts are actually healthy ! This isn’t !
At least fruit and nuts are actually healthy ! This isn’t !
California, the land of fruits and nuts
There is nothing that you can do about it at present. Just bear in mind that these people have no sense of proportion and will overreach themselves. They have to doubledown just to keep the show on the road.There will be a backlash, but not until enough people are seriously detrimentally affected by these antics. The longer a backlash is delayed the more extreme it is. The same will happen with Net Zero – We can already see the wheels falling off that fantasy.
You are right of course that what happens in The US always comes here sometime later. It would be nice if we were first for a change and gave the Yanks something to worry about.
In regard to your final sentence, consult Thomas Jefferson!
As I am English you will have to forgive me for not being overly familiar with the thoughts of Jefferson.
As I am English you will have to forgive me for not being overly familiar with the thoughts of Jefferson.
I’m 50 and I’ve been waiting for the overreach for a very long time.
Have patience
Have patience
In regard to your final sentence, consult Thomas Jefferson!
I’m 50 and I’ve been waiting for the overreach for a very long time.
There is nothing that you can do about it at present. Just bear in mind that these people have no sense of proportion and will overreach themselves. They have to doubledown just to keep the show on the road.There will be a backlash, but not until enough people are seriously detrimentally affected by these antics. The longer a backlash is delayed the more extreme it is. The same will happen with Net Zero – We can already see the wheels falling off that fantasy.
You are right of course that what happens in The US always comes here sometime later. It would be nice if we were first for a change and gave the Yanks something to worry about.
You know society has reached a breaking point when the ruling elite sacrifice children in favour of some political objective or ideology. We saw if everywhere with Covid policy, and now we’re seeing it in places that allow children to undergo life altering medical interventions that they cannot possibly understand..
You know society has reached a breaking point when the ruling elite sacrifice children in favour of some political objective or ideology. We saw if everywhere with Covid policy, and now we’re seeing it in places that allow children to undergo life altering medical interventions that they cannot possibly understand..
California stopped being a place to live the traditional American dream a long time ago. You’ve got a better chance of your child turning into a well-adjusted adult if you let them be raised by wolves rather than the people and institutions of California.
Precisely. Wolves don’t have an “authentic self” that exists above the material universe.
Precisely. Wolves don’t have an “authentic self” that exists above the material universe.
California stopped being a place to live the traditional American dream a long time ago. You’ve got a better chance of your child turning into a well-adjusted adult if you let them be raised by wolves rather than the people and institutions of California.
There used to be (and perhaps still is) a section in legal encyclopedias entitled “children and other incompetents.” This section leads the lawyer to statutes and cases dealing with those incompetent under the law– those who do not have the legal capacity to make contracts, for instance. It’s evident that politicians should be included among these incompetents.
There used to be (and perhaps still is) a section in legal encyclopedias entitled “children and other incompetents.” This section leads the lawyer to statutes and cases dealing with those incompetent under the law– those who do not have the legal capacity to make contracts, for instance. It’s evident that politicians should be included among these incompetents.
In Canada, the provincial govt of New Brunswick plans to revise a policy that allows schools to call students by their preferred gender pronouns without informing parents. The new law would require schools to inform parents if any student under the age of 16 requests a pronoun change.
The howls of outrage are deafening. All the predictable groups are making charges of transphobia and blah blah blah. Trudeau, of course, is strongly opposed to the policy and has accused the New Brunswick premier of all sorts of right wing racism.
What disappoints me the most, and truly makes me fear for the future of my country, is not one leader of the three national political parties has explicitly endorsed the policy, including the so-called populist leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre.
Not one mainstream legacy media outlet has endorsed the policy either, including the only centre right newspaper in the country.
It’s not even a question of gender policy. The state has no business overriding the rights of parents or intervening in a child’s behaviour without consent of the parents. I haven’t heard anyone make this argument, other than Premier Higgins.
He has threatened to call a snap election over the Issue. I hope he follows through and forces an open and honest debate.
That’s truly depressing. Canada of all places. To paraphrase John Stuart Mill, all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people be utterly spineless.
Canada has lost the plot. In 2017, a court in British Columbia ordered a birth certificate be amended to show the names of all three “parents” living in a polyamorous arrangement.
That’s truly depressing. Canada of all places. To paraphrase John Stuart Mill, all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people be utterly spineless.
Canada has lost the plot. In 2017, a court in British Columbia ordered a birth certificate be amended to show the names of all three “parents” living in a polyamorous arrangement.
In Canada, the provincial govt of New Brunswick plans to revise a policy that allows schools to call students by their preferred gender pronouns without informing parents. The new law would require schools to inform parents if any student under the age of 16 requests a pronoun change.
The howls of outrage are deafening. All the predictable groups are making charges of transphobia and blah blah blah. Trudeau, of course, is strongly opposed to the policy and has accused the New Brunswick premier of all sorts of right wing racism.
What disappoints me the most, and truly makes me fear for the future of my country, is not one leader of the three national political parties has explicitly endorsed the policy, including the so-called populist leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre.
Not one mainstream legacy media outlet has endorsed the policy either, including the only centre right newspaper in the country.
It’s not even a question of gender policy. The state has no business overriding the rights of parents or intervening in a child’s behaviour without consent of the parents. I haven’t heard anyone make this argument, other than Premier Higgins.
He has threatened to call a snap election over the Issue. I hope he follows through and forces an open and honest debate.
Nuts. I am now totally convinced that the Californians leftest are certifiably insane.
Where are these supposed moderate and ‘sane’ independent Californians and why more importantly, they are not readying themselves to rid the place of these despicable creatures.
America is lost.
Nuts. I am now totally convinced that the Californians leftest are certifiably insane.
Where are these supposed moderate and ‘sane’ independent Californians and why more importantly, they are not readying themselves to rid the place of these despicable creatures.
America is lost.
This is scarily dystopian, a setting for the new Handperson’s Tale. Any normal parent with kids will have to get out, further polarizing the country, although at least there are other states to flee to, where they speak the same language.
This is scarily dystopian, a setting for the new Handperson’s Tale. Any normal parent with kids will have to get out, further polarizing the country, although at least there are other states to flee to, where they speak the same language.
Lex Luthor’s plan from the first Superman movie suddenly sounding quite reasonable.
Lex Luthor’s plan from the first Superman movie suddenly sounding quite reasonable.
America is the Great Satan.
it is, you only need to see it once
Ha! Sorry, guys! Most of us aren’t very happy either!
it is, you only need to see it once
Ha! Sorry, guys! Most of us aren’t very happy either!
America is the Great Satan.
God help us.
God help us.
Look, we are bad news. And it will get worse now Gavin Newsom wants to be president in the next one or two elections.
Isnt the world sick of American (cultural) imperialism? I was told it was. Why do you lot follow our ideas? Stop reading our papers and giving us the time of day. Lose Canada at the same time.
Look, we are bad news. And it will get worse now Gavin Newsom wants to be president in the next one or two elections.
Isnt the world sick of American (cultural) imperialism? I was told it was. Why do you lot follow our ideas? Stop reading our papers and giving us the time of day. Lose Canada at the same time.
Californians are cracked.