In a recent court decision, Sylvia Sieve Hendon, an Ohio juvenile court judge, awarded custody of a gender-confused minor to the grandparents so he could defy his parents’ wishes and get hormone therapy. The decision alarmed lawmakers and parents in the state so much that new legislation is being considered to stop it from happening again.

Ohio House Bill 658 sets out clear guidelines regarding parental rights when children face the mental disorder of gender dysphoria. The bill ensures that parents have the final say on how to treat their children who are experiencing gender confusion and makes it illegal for anyone else to do so (like teachers or school therapists) without parental consent. The law also would make it illegal for a judge to remove a minor from his parents’ custody for refusing to treat gender dysphoria with irreversible, dangerous drugs that can cause sterility and disrupt natural development. Further, the law would require any adult with authority over a child to inform the parents if the child is considering gender “therapy.”

Transgender activists are intent on demonizing this law. From the gay publication Them, Mary Emily O’Hara writes,

Ohio House Bill 658 would turn school employees, psychologists, and social workers into spies of a sort; the legislation mandates that they disclose to parents if a minor approaches them with questions about gender identity or seeks mental health care for gender dysphoria. And if they don’t inform the child’s parents — regardless of concern for the safety or wellbeing of the child — they would face felony charges.

In every school across this nation, teachers and counselors are prohibited from giving a minor Tylenol without parental consent, yet activists want them to be able to refer kids for body mutilation without telling their parents? Parents must give consent to send kids on field trips, watch movies, and even eat a hot lunch. Why is it offensive to inform parents when their minor child is having an identity crisis? What kind of educators would want to hide such a serious thing from the people who love the child the most? Parents in this nation are held responsible financially and otherwise for the well-being of their children. They take on all the risks and burdens of parenting and are responsible for anything their minor child does (and sometimes can even go to jail for it). Shouldn’t parents get the benefit of making major decisions concerning those minors when it comes to something as life-altering as gender reassignment surgery or “therapy”?

If state legislatures don’t do something to protect parents’ rights soon, the Gaystappo will be forcing parents to not only agree to poisonous hormone “therapy,” but making them pay for it too! Already in several states the gay rights activists have pushed through legislation that bars parents from seeking Christian counseling for their children suffering from gender or sexual confusion.

Ohio state Rep. Thomas Brinkman, a sponsor of the bill, agrees that parents’ rights deserve protection from such assaults. His bill would protect the rights of Ohioans to seek whatever counseling (including Christian) they choose for their children.

“I feel pretty good about this because I’ve gotten a lot of support from my colleagues and leadership,” Brinkman told PJM. “I’m rather libertarian. [This bill] is not anti-gay, it is pro-liberty. If parents want to treat their child’s dysphoria with hormone drugs, no one will stop them,” Brinkman said.

What it does do is protect the parents who do not want to affirm their child’s dysphoria from overreaching judges, doctors, and school counselors who would like to force them to act in a way they believe is harmful to their child. “This bill protects parents’ rights regarding minor children. When a child turns 18 they are free to seek whatever medical care they wish and no one will stop them,” said Brinkman.

“We hold parents to a standard of responsibility for their children financially and otherwise,” he continued. “And they should be responsible for their medical treatment.”

These are welcome words for parents everywhere who feel a creeping terror of the state forcing them to act against their consciences. “Parents get the bill, they should get the right to say no to controversial methods that will alter their kids forever,” the lawmaker said.

Brinkman was eloquent in his defense of parental rights while retaining sympathy for LGBTQ constituents. “We want this bill to be a shield, not a sword,” he said. “We are trying to give parents who don’t want to give their children life-altering drugs the freedom to say no.”

American parents cannot afford to lose the freedom to say no to “therapies” and life-altering surgeries that harm children. Studies have shown that a majority of gender-confused children will lose their confusion after puberty if left “untreated.” Michelle Cretella, M.D., president of the American College of Pediatricians, has said that transgender “therapy” for children is nothing less than child abuse.