The battle over the fundamental rights and responsibilities of parents is set to resume with a public hearing in the Alaska State Legislature this week.

On Thursday, Jan. 22, the House Health and Social Services Committee will hear “invitation only” testimony on House Bill 232, legislation which opponents argue undermines the basic right of parents to guide their child’s healthcare decisions.

Introduced by LGBTQ activist Rep. Andrew Gray (D-Anchorage), the House bill mirrors Senate Bill 90, which was introduced last year by Sen. Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage).

Both bills seek to let minors consent to up to five mental health treatment sessions without any parental knowledge or consent. This would include sessions that deal with topics like gender-identity and sexual orientation, along with others.

Proponents of such bills include a lengthy list of LGBTQ activist organizations that believe states should lower age-of-consent laws to give mental counselors access to minors without informing their parents. In many cases, this is framed as necessary because many parents oppose treatments that push controversial notions about gender fluidity and transgenderism.

The dual Alaska bills would allow mental health workers to treat minors indefinitely – without parental involvement – if the provider deems that the child wouldn’t get treatments if parents knew, that telling parents would harm the child’s wellbeing and that the minor is somehow mature enough to choose treatments without parents knowing.

If these bills pass, school-based counselors and gender clinics, such as Anchorage’s Identity Health Clinic, would be able facilitate a minor’s social transition while keeping parents in the dark. Later, these providers could recommend irreversible sex-transition drugs and even surgeries.

In 2023, a similar law was approved in California allowing minors to undergo gender-affirming mental health care – such as outpatient therapy or counseling related to gender identity – without parental consent so long as a counselor determines that the minor is mature enough to participate in these discussion.

TAKING ACTION

— Read the proposed Alaska bills: HB 232 and SB 90.

— Click here to contact Sen. Cathy Giessel (Sponsor of SB 90)

— Click here to contact the members of the House Health Committee which is considering HB 232.

— Click here to contact the members of the Senate Rules Committee where SB 90 is currently awaiting action.

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