Washington State (Special Appeal to Residents of WA State)

One day recently, my friend heard a six year old neighbor girl arguing with her little brother. He had said she was a girl and six year old Emma disagreed. Confused, he asked his big sister if she was a boy. Her response was, “No! I’m not a girl or a boy. I’m nothing!”

Even though Emma is not yet mature enough to explain the concept of “non-binary” to her brother, clearly kindergarten has taught her all about the “spectrum of gender”.

Not long ago, a six year old playing pretend wasn’t anything to be concerned about. But as everything “transgender” creeps further into our public education system under the guise of “inclusion,” an active imagination has taken a sinister twist.

Most school districts in my home state of Washington have implemented Policy 3211. This policy mandates that if a child expresses a “gender identity” at school, the teachers are prohibited from sharing that “gender expression” with the parents. Schools can refer to a student by a different name and identity and their parents might never know.

But the government of Washington state isn’t stopping there. In the 2023 legislative session, our state legislature passed SB 5599. Passed late at night in the House along partisan lines, this radical bill would hide kids from their parents if they run away to pursue “gender affirming treatments”.

The opposition to SB 5599, as it worked its way through the Washington State Legislature, was overwhelming. The Senate hearing saw nearly every person testifying against this bill and had thousands register their position as against it. In the House committee hearing, even more people registered a position on SB 5599, with the final tallies showing 94% opposed to it. Yet the radicals in charge of the Democratic party, the majority party in the Washington state legislature, passed SB 5599 anyway.

The few who testified in favor of SB 5599 said outrageous things, such as, “…it’s not safe for parents to sometimes know where their kids are…”. The pro-5599 testifiers included people like Lisa Keating, the Vice Chair of the Tacoma School Board.

SB 5599 is much more sinister than just hiding runaways from their parents. Current child abuse laws state that the only “compelling reasons” to fail to notify the parents of their runaway child’s whereabouts are abuse or neglect. But SB 5599 will add “seeking gender affirming care” as a reason to hide a runaway minor’s location from his or her parents.

In cases of abuse or neglect, an investigation is conducted to determine if parents are, in fact, abusive or neglectful. But as “seeking gender affirming care” is added as a “compelling reason” to hide runaways from their parents, the law doesn’t allow any opportunity for parents to defend themselves or provide evidence of a loving, caring home. The minor runs away, declares he or she is “transgender,” and instantly the state provides for all the “gender affirming care” the child demands…no parental consent required.

But current Washington state laws already allow minors ages 13 and up to obtain gender-affirming care, including surgeries, without parental knowledge or consent. In 2019, SB 5889 created a new category of “protected individual” to include a minor who may obtain health care without the consent of a parent or legal guardian. SB 5313 was passed in 2021, banning insurance companies from denying coverage for minors getting gender surgery when deemed “medically necessary”.

So if Washington state kids ages 13 and older can already obtain everything from puberty blockers to facial feminization surgery and mastectomies, why write this law?

Well, if a minor is in the care of the state, isn’t the state covering the child’s expenses? That would cover food, shelter…and healthcare. Welcome to the sick and twisted insanity of taxpayer-funded, medical “gender transition” of children.

SB 5599 also has no age restrictions. While current law allows for “gender affirming healthcare” for minors 13 and up, younger kids still legally require parental involvement.

Under 5599, will kids 10, 11, and 12 years old who are experiencing gender dysphoria be provided with puberty blockers and wrong sex hormones? This bill does not specifically say. But it does say that any minor, regardless of age, who runs away to “seek gender affirming care” will be hidden from his or her parents…and supported.

Depriving minors of the protections of their parents is dangerous. In 2021, when 14 year old Sage expressed a “gender identity” at her Virginia high school, school officials hid her from her parents. Placed in the care of strangers while the adults in her life told Sage that her parents would never accept her “gender identity”, Sage was sex-trafficked not once, but twice.

For all these reasons and more, I filed a referendum, R-101, against SB 5599. Our goal was to get 200k signatures by July 22nd. That would have given us more than enough signatures, even after some were thrown out. But the minimum was 162k+ and we gathered 157k signatures. So we were just 5k short of the minimum. Then we can vote “reject” and get rid of this bill before the law is enacted. SB 5599 bullies parents and preys on children. Our families deserve better.

Please visit Reject5599.com for more information.

Dawn Land is a Catholic, homeschooling mother of three. She is an activist who advocates for the protection of children and women by speaking and protesting against the predatory laws, regulations, and policies of transgender ideology in our society. She has spoken in countless board meetings and hearings, and protested outside pediatric gender clinics, as well as the national American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) convention and the national Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) convention. Dawn and her family live in western Washington State.