America First Legal attorney Nicholas Barry says his firm is suing Governor Jay Inslee (D) to stop enforcement of the new state law that allows shelters or host homes to take in children struggling with gender dysphoria and potentially provide them with life-altering "care" in the form of sterilization drugs or other types of gender manipulating medication -- without parental consent or parental knowledge.
Gov. Inslee signed Senate Bill 5599 into law on May 8th after the state legislature approved it.
"This legislation affirms our commitment to ensuring children have a safe and stable place to go when they are not welcome at home," bill author and state Senator Marko Liias (D-Everett) said in a news release just after Gov. Inslee signed the measure.
Filed in the Western District of Washington federal court, America First Legal's lawsuit also names Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D-Washington) and Ross Hunter, the secretary of the state's Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).
"We hope that we can get in there very quickly and get an injunction on this law," Barry tells AFN.
Calling SB 5599 a "state kidnapping permissive law," he says parents everywhere should pay attention to this case. When children from any state go to Washington and utter "the magical phrase that they want gender-affirming treatment," then under the statute, their parents would be equivalent to a child abuser, "and the state will take actions moving forward as if an abuse allegation has been made towards those parents."
"We've sued under federal constitutional rights, which apply to all of us nationwide," Barry details. "If we can get those federal constitutional rights enshrined in Washington, then it's going to apply nationwide."
