A bill passed by the New York state legislature would erase the terms “mother” and “father” from several state child custody and parental laws in favor of so-called “gender neutral language.”

“Mother” would be replaced with “gestating parent,” and “father” with “non-gestating parent” or “parent.”

More from the New York Post:

A “putative father” — also known as a deadbeat dad — would now be called “an alleged parent” in official state records, under the bill, which was sponsored by liberals Sen. Luis Sepulveda (D-Bronx) and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester) and will go to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for approval.

“It’s woke culture run amok. It’s one-upmanship,” said state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar, a former longtime state Senate and Assembly staffer.

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“It’s an example of how out of tune the New York legislature is. It’s an unnecessary and wasteful use of time,” Kassar said

He said the gender-neutral bill is likely to lead to a stampede of others, and called state lawmakers’ priorities backwards — considering they were almost two months late in passing a state budget.

“Imagine people who are considering moving to New York seeing this and saying, ‘Do I need this silliness?’ This is a really weird group of elected officials. It comes out of left field,” he said.

“When I say politics is now Normal vs. Crazy, this is what I mean. This is completely insane! In Arkansas, we don’t do woke nonsense and as long as I’m Governor we never will,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders commented.

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The Washington Examiner shared further:

Now, Hochul has 10 days to either sign the changes into law or veto the legislation. If approved, the changes would take effect Nov. 1.

If signed by Hochul, the bill would revise parental terminology across multiple sections of New York law but would not alter existing parental rights, obligations, or family court.

Empire State Democrats argue the measure modernizes New York law to reflect the realities of same-sex couples, adoptive families, surrogacy arrangements, and other family structures recognized in the state. The bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Luis Sepulveda of the Bronx, has argued that the changes are intended to align statutory language with existing court decisions and family practices.

Republicans were quick to criticize the legislation, arguing that lawmakers should focus on affordability, public safety, and other issues facing New Yorkers rather than rewriting legal terminology.

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Conner Dunleavy, a Republican candidate challenging the chair of the state Assembly’s judicial committee who approved the bill, told the Washington Examiner the state legislature’s move “serves to undermine our families.” He said New York families are facing bigger challenges than legal terminology.

“[Their] priorities are totally out of whack,” Dunleavy said. “They’re focused on things like removing the words mother and father from state law and replacing them with ridiculous terms like gestating and non-gestating parent.”

“It’s not addressing our affordability crisis that we definitely have in the state, it’s not addressing our record-high taxes, it’s not addressing the insane costs of utilities, it’s doing nothing to help families, and it’s doing everything to erase us from the picture,” he added.

 

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