Written by by Evan Gahr at californiaglobe.com
Protect Kids California, a parental rights group, has sued state Attorney General Rob Bonta for mislabeling their proposed ballot initiative that would counter transgender orthodoxy and the rush to transition kids.
But Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto ruled last week that he would allow Bonta to keep the title of the ballot initiative that the group says is highly misleading, as the Globe reported.
However, one of the lawyers for Protect Kids California said in a statement that they are likely to appeal the “erroneous” ruling.
The whole point of ballot initiatives is to circumvent politicians and take issues directly to voters. Now Bonta is trying to stack the decks against the initiative with a biased title and description that arguably violates state law requiring that initiatives be given a neutral description.
Notwithstanding the judicial blessing, his insouciant abuse of his position is troubling and reveals a certain amount of arrogance on his part.
The lawsuit says that when Protect Kids California submitted the initiative to Bonta so it could be placed on petitions he mangled its stated purpose with a new name and to make it sound like it would hurt kids. This violated California law that requires that the California attorney general “give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure in such language that the ballot title and summary shall neither be an argument, nor be likely to create prejudice, for or against the proposed measure,” the lawsuit says.
“Respondent’s title is neither true nor impartial. Instead, it is an argument intended, and does prejudice the voters of California against both signing and supporting the petition.”
As a result of the misleading language potential supporters are being scared away. Bonta’s “calculated and unlawful use of negative and deceptive language have been and are impeding Petitioners from obtaining support for the Initiative,” says the lawsuit, which was filed in the Sacramento division of California Superior Court.
The lawsuit says that the title Bonta is trying to force on Protect Kids California amounts to compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment. “By infringing Petitioners’ soliciting of signatures and by using government power to compel ideological speech, the Respondent’s actions doubly trigger strict scrutiny. His actions cannot clear that lofty bar.”
Protect Kids California needs 50,000 signatures to get the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.
Last September Protect Kids California submitted to Bonta a ballot initiative that they titled the “Protect Kids of California Act of 2024.” The initiative would prohibit sex change chemicals and surgeries for minors; prohibit boys who identify as girls for playing in girls sports; require schools to notify parents if their kids are transitioning and require schools to only allow students in bathrooms and locker rooms that match their biological sex.
This sounds like an accurate description about a measure that would, in fact, protect kids.