Parents’ rights groups march outside Gavin Newsom’s Fair Oaks home in ‘War on Children’ rally

The parents’ rights movement found its way to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s sleepy Fair Oaks neighborhood on Saturday morning, where dozens of demonstrators stood outside his home to protest a slate of bills and what they call the “War on Children.”

“Hey, Newsom,” the protesters chanted to the tune of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.” “Leave our kids alone.”

Newsom is currently traveling to China after a brief visit to Israel.

Taylor Hart and Brian Smith, two residents of the neighborhood out for a walk between college football games, shrugged off “the white noise.”

“This started a few years ago when a new neighbor moved in,” Hart said of the Newsom family’s arrival in 2019.

The rally was organized by several parents’ rights groups, including Freedom Angels and Mom Army, as well as Gays Against Groomers and Our Duty, groups that advocate for an end to gender-affirming health care for trans or non-binary minors. A handful of demonstrators wearing black and yellow outfits, and shirts that read, “Kill your local pedophile” — both staples of the far-right Proud Boys movement — also attended.

Speakers at the rally insisted they are part of a non-partisan, apolitical movement — not Republican or right-wing — and that they are not anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ.

“This is not about being anti-trans,” said Denise Aguilar, co-founder of the Freedom Angels. “It’s about children not being able to consent to these types of long-term medical procedures.

“I don’t care what adults do with their lives. You want to be trans? I love you anyways. This is about children being put in a position that’s too age-inappropriate for them.”

Her fellow co-founder, Tara Thornton, said there should be a line at age 18 for medical intervention, even for trans children whose parents affirm their identity. She cited “the science that shows the prefrontal cortex isn’t even fully developed until after 25.”

Protests took place nationwide, but the Sacramento demonstration was specifically in response to Newsom signing three bills into law after the legislative session.

One will allow children ages 12 and older who are enrolled in Medi-Cal to receive outpatient mental health services without the consent of their parents (as is already the case for those private insured). The same bill would also “remove the additional requirement that, in order to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, the minor must present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or to others, or be the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.” This ostensibly gives minors more autonomy in leaving abusive homes.

Thornton said her group opposes the law, AB 665, sponsored by Assemblywoman Wendy Carillo, D-Los Angeles, not because of the equitable mental health care aspect, but because it removes the parent from being involved in important mental health care and safety decisions.

Another bill bars school boards from banning instructional materials or curricula that are deemed inclusive and diverse. A third makes California a “sanctuary state” for non-resident parents who come to California for their kids’ gender-affirming health care.

“He has turned California into a chop shop,” Thornton said, “With our children on the butcher’s table.”

Parents, grandparents and parents’ rights movement allies booed outside the gates of Newsom’s home, carrying such signs as “Transitioning Kids is Child Abuse.”

Members of Gays Against Groomers, Freedom Angels and Mom Army are frequent fixtures at school board meetings, pressuring school board members to take books out of circulation that they deem pornographic or inappropriate for kids.

“Some people thought we went too far going to Gavin Newsom’s house because he has kids,” Aguilar said. “We have kids. Do we feel safe in this state? Do we feel safe sending our children to school?”

The crowd responded with a resounding “no” to both questions.

“We have to take a stand, and that starts now, no matter what kinds of unjust laws are put into place by Gavin. I know he knows we’re here ... we’re not going to go away, we’re not doing to let him take our children.”

A small group of counter-protesters, activists who support LGBTQ and abortion rights, marched to the rally, chanting yards away from the demonstrators.

“We’re here today as a counter-protest to drown out the noise,” said Salem Sparrow of Sacramento. Sparrow specifically cited parental notification laws, a handful of which have passed or come up in Sacramento-area school board meetings, which would require school staff to tell a student’s parents if they request to go by a different name or pronoun, or otherwise indicate a gender transition.

“If I had been outed as a trans kid when I was younger, I don’t think I would have survived,” Sparrow said. “My family was very violent, and I don’t think I would be alive today if that had happened to me.

“So I’m here to counter-protest, and make a better future for the next generation, something better than what I got.”

An hour after the rally ended, a caravan of trucks, sedans, Jeeps and motorcycles drove laps around Newsom’s neighborhood, flying full-sized Trump 2024 flags, as demonstrators hooted and hollered in support. Signs that read Women for Trump, Let’s Go Brandon, and FJB (for F--- Joe Biden) decorated many of the cars.

“This isn’t about political party,” Thornton had said an hour earlier.