Watch Europe. Not for the reasons that the American left gives, but for the reason they don't. The American left all too often wants us to look to Europe as an example of how the United States should go forward, for policies we should adopt, and for examples we Americans should follow.
Then, the European Commission looks into some oddball proposal, and we realize how far down a really weird road Europe has gone.
And this is just such an oddball proposal: The European Commission is considering, in their "LGBTIQ+ equality strategy 2026-2030," proposals that strip away any age limits for kids to choose their own gender.
Children will be able to choose their own gender at any age under controversial new EU proposals.
Therapy to check whether children are certain they want to change their gender and age limits on gender recognition could be discarded in the new plans.
The proposals, which are laid out in the European Commission's new 'LGBTIQ+ equality strategy 2026-2030', have been condemned for 'silencing women'.
EU member states who challenge gender ideology could be punished, with 'discriminating regions' that do not comply with 'values' seeing funding blocked.
The document, published on Wednesday, declares it will 'support the development of legal gender recognition procedures based on self-determination that are free from age restrictions.'
Free from age restrictions. That means kids. Here's what the proposal states:
It states: 'Requirements for legal gender recognition vary significantly across Member States.
'While a number of Member States have adopted self-determination models, others impose medical procedures, which the European Court of Human Rights has found may infringe human rights.
'The Commission will facilitate exchanges of best practices among Member States to support the development of legal gender recognition procedures based on self-determination that are free from age restrictions.'
Free from age restrictions. That means that children will be able to make these decisions on their own. That's what the European Commission is pushing. That's what this proposal is all about.
These are kids who, in the United States, can't legally get a tattoo in most places, even with parental consent. They can't sign contracts. They can't get married. They can't buy a firearm. They can't buy a bottle of booze. But in Europe, any member state that ratifies this horse squeeze will allow them to determine their "gender." Not their sex; that's determined genetically at conception. No, this is that fuzzy definition of "gender" that seems to mean whatever gender ideology activists claim it means at any given moment.
The proposal also states that members who refuse to comply could face sanctions - and that any recommendation of therapy, which is how gender dysphoria has historically been handled, would be banned.
Talking therapy for children who are suffering from gender issues could also be banned.
The EU commission proposals, which have not yet been ratified by national governments, criticise countries, including Britain, which require a GP’s approval before they can identify as the opposite sex.
This may be the worst part of this whole proposal - kids, children, are evidently supposed to be able to make these decisions without parental approval and without medical consultation.
That's what the gender-ideology types want to do here.
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Pushing this through the European Commission overturns the majority of European nations, who properly think this is a bad idea. That would be two-thirds of the EC's member states.
Of 27 EU member states, only 9 countries currently allow for self-identification, while 12 impose medical requirements to confirm a gender change.
In the UK, children as young as 16 can be given gender-affirming hormones, but they cannot change their gender on their medical record until 18.
You can see the entire proposal here. The opening paragraph reads:
Our social, political and economic strength comes from our unity in diversity: Equality and non-discrimination are core values and fundamental rights in the EU, enshrined in its Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The European Commission, the Parliament and the Council, together with Member States, all share a responsibility to protect fundamental rights and ensure equal treatment and equality for all.
This is a leftist's fever dream of "woke" corral litter. All one has to do is look at the streets of Europe today, at the pro-Hamas protests, at the street takeovers, at the no-go zones in cities from Copenhagen to Madrid, to see how their "unity in diversity" is working out.
This isn't a model the United States should be following. Europe isn't a model for any nation to follow. And here's the question: This proposal would insist that the two-thirds of member nations that are not yet in compliance violate their own inherent values, to allow kids to determine their own "gender," no medical consultation required, and presumably, no parental consent required.
That's where the American left would take us. That's another thing we should remember, every day, especially when an election is coming up.
