The legislation would expand the definition of child abuse so that parents could be charged with a felony or misdemeanor for refusing to honor their child's request to be treated as the opposite sex. A Child Protective Services (CPS) charge could also harm parents' employment and they could lose their jobs. Guzman's legislation is in response to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's latest policy initiatives that empower parents over whether and how children transition gender in school.

Virginia Democratic delegate Elizabeth Guzman is seeking to introduce legislation that would hold parents criminally liable for refusing to treat their children as a different sex from the one they were born into.

The legislation, which Guzman plans to introduce in Virginia's upcoming legislative session, would expand the definition of child abuse so that parents could be charged with a felony or misdemeanor for refusing to honor their child's request to be treated as the opposite sex.