New York should not enshrine transgender rights for minors. Parents need a say
3-minute read
Michele Sterlace-Accorsi Special to the USA TODAY Network
On general election day, voters will decide more than who will serve as our nation’s 47th president. They will determine the fate of various proposed state constitutional amendments, perhaps none more serious than New York’s Proposal One. Prop One or New York’s so-called Equal Rights Amendment is the only ballot initiative in the country to include transgender rights for minors. Among other things, the constitutional amendment gives courts authority to uphold policies that allow children to gender transition as early as pre-kindergarten, without the knowledge of their mothers, fathers or legal guardians.
The radical rights for children contained within Prop One contradict logic and guidance from international health leaders, usurp democratic principles and expose an undercurrent of monied interests.
Children need parents. We all know that. We don’t need reams of research by child psychologists to convince us. A family dinner informs us — children often want to skip the broccoli for the yummy ice-cream dessert. While State governments serve as back-up parents or parens patriae under our federalist system, it is the right and duty of parents to raise their children, absent exigent circumstances.
The unsettling question is whether a child’s desire to gender transition is exceptional enough to deprive parents of authority to make decisions with their kids, and let the state takeover. Social consensus has yet to determine that it is, and evolving science says it's generally not.
Countries, once enthusiastic pioneers in the effort to help kids gender transition, are backing off, based on demonstrable risks to children and the overwhelming lack of evidence concerning long-term impacts. Well established scientific consensus shows children’s “brains — not just their bodies — are not fully developed,” specifically the frontal lobes responsible for decision making and resistance to coercion. This is the primary reason why persons under the age of 18 cannot be subject to the death penalty in the U.S. or consent to being sex trafficked.
Detransitioners are speaking out louder than ever. Parents are filing lawsuits against schools for helping their children gender transition under the shadow of educational policies that squash parental involvement, while relevant discussions regarding transgenderism and kids continue to gloss over the paramount role of parents. Where neither scientific nor social consensus exists on a controversial topic — the subject or right in question — shouldn’t be codified into a governing document as permanent as a state constitution.
Proponents of Prop One, however, vociferously claim the amendment is needed to protect abortion rights. Yet New York already has some of the most liberal abortion policies in the world. And if a federal ban on abortion ever passes, no state constitutional amendment, including Prop One, could preempt it. New York’s ERA indeed appears to be a red herring for voter turnout, leaving children in the crossfire, and as always, vulnerable to exploitation.
In addition to other corporate conglomerates, the pharmaceutical and health products industry will profit if voters ratify Prop One. Several of these companies have actively lobbied in favor of gender-affirming care legislation throughout the nation, including NY. Key players include Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Pfizer, Inc. PhRMA alone spent over $27 million, while Pfizer invested over $14 million on lobbying efforts in 2023, the year in which NY’s ERA passed in Albany the second time. In 2023 the pharmaceutical and health products industry outspent all other industries on lobbying in the U.S., bringing their recorded lobbying total to 5.83 billion.
No matter one's politics, children's health and well-being should always come first. Children deserve the care and input of their parents. New York is a cultural and policy leader. What happens in New York doesn’t often stay in New York. For the sake of our children, let’s hope a majority of voters flip over their ballots, and vote no to Prop One or as some are calling it — the Parent Replacement Act.
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