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ANDREA PICCIOTTI-BAYER: Gender Ideology Is The New ‘Parental Alienation’

Americans are engaged in bitter battles with the government over custody of their children.

As the Biden-Harris administration and state governments such as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz support gender ideological attempts to sever the parent-child bond, we are witnessing a sinister new form of “parent-child breakdown.”

This often occurs during high-conflict divorce or custody proceedings,Parental alienation It is defined as a strategy in which one parent intentionally displays unjustified negative attitudes towards the other parent to the child, with the goal of “undermining the child's relationship with the other parent and directing the child's emotional reactions towards the other parent.” To be consideredIt is considered a form of psychological child abuse, “equivalent to physical and sexual abuse.” Estrangement from children can be devastating for the estranged parent.

Enter today's trance boom.

Abigail Shrier's 2020 book “Irreversible Damage: Transgender Boom Seduces Our Daughters ” highlighted the heartbreaking stories of parents of adolescent girls seduced by this social contagion. Public schools, social media, and “treatment” professionals typically played leading roles in fueling this madness while parents were often left in the dark.

The tactics used by gender ideologues to alienate confused children from their parents are similar to those used in nasty custody battles, and it's time to hold elected officials like Harris and Walz accountable for their role in perpetuating alienation. (Related: 'Anti-parent candidate': Moms for Liberty plans to highlight Harris-Waltz's socialism and 'gender insanity' to get people to vote)

For example, the Biden-Harris Department of Health and Human Services:ruleEarlier this year, it required state and tribal government agencies to ensure that foster children who identify as LGBTQI+ receive “safe and appropriate care” by making “designated placements” available to them.

Prospective foster parents will be certified as “designated caregivers” only if they agree to (1) establish “an environment that supports a child’s LGBTQI+ status or identity,” (2) be “trained in appropriate knowledge and skills to meet the needs of a child related to the child’s self-perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression,” and (3) “facilitate access to age- or developmentally-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support the child’s health and well-being.”

Anyone unwilling to succumb to these gender ideological demands, including those who do so because they sincerely believe in their Christian faith, is deemed ineligible to care for LGBTQ-identified children, which means Christians need not apply.

A Christian foster family, the Harmons of Tim Waltz, Minnesota barelyThere was no escaping this trans madness. Jay and Nancy Harmon fostered the three sisters for two years before successfully adopting them last December. The girls had suffered unimaginable abuse and neglect from their biological parents. The eldest daughter claimed to be “non-binary” and authorities said the Harmons were “unfit” to adopt the girls due to their Christian beliefs. It was only after a child therapist intervened and encouraged the Harmons to place all three girls for adoption that authorities backed down.

The girls were adopted in December of last year.

The Biden-Harris standard for what constitutes “safe and appropriate care” for LGBTQ children in our nation's foster care system could easily be applied to the care and custody of all LGBTQ children. In fact, one mother in Kamala Harris' California recentlyCame out beforeTalking about losing custody of her daughter for several months because she wasn't “positive.” The widowed mother of two has pursued a career as a Christian counselor.

And what about Tim Waltz, the uncle-like, self-described youth advocate who not only oversaw the social service programs that caused unimaginable suffering for the Harmon family, but also signed new laws that give Minnesota courts “extraordinary emergency jurisdiction” in custody battles and allow them to ignore state lines if a child “fails to obtain gender-affirming medical care”? He's been praised for making Minnesota a “transgender haven.” (Related article: Vice Presidential candidate Harris endorses bill allowing states to take away custody of children from parents who oppose gender reassignment surgery)

The New York Times recently reported:Fact-checkedIn Minnesota, vice presidential candidate and Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance warned that Minnesota's law “would remove children from their parents if they don't want them to transition.” The Times claimed Vance and his group “could not cite any such cases, instead pointing to hypothetical scenarios.” But the draconian law has only just been implemented. It's only a matter of time before cases pile up.

With the election looming, it's time to face the horrifying reality that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are supporting policies and practices that separate confused children from their loving parents in order to advance the interests of gender ideology. This is nothing less than government-sponsored parental alienation. The question now is whether we will allow this to continue.

Andrea PicciottiBayer I am the director of Conscience Project.

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