At just 15 years old, Yaeli Martinez became enamored with gender ideology, which drove her to eventual suicide. Now, Rep. Mary Miller (R.-Ill.) is trying to commemorate Martinez and ensure no child suffers the same fate. 

After her Christian mother refused to affirm Yaeli’s so-called “transgender” identity, the teenage girl was put into foster care by the Los Angeles Child Protective Services. Martinez’s mother was allowed only one hour of visitation with her daughter and was told not to discuss the gospel. After being administered sex-rejecting hormones, Martinez fell into extreme anxiety and depression, killing herself by stepping in front of a moving train at the age of 19.

Miller introduced the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act into the House of Representatives on October 5, “to protect parents from being punished by state child-welfare systems for affirming their child’s biological sex or shielding them from irreversible medical procedures.”

“I really want the listeners at the conclusion of our little interview here to be motivated to call their representatives and ask them to support my bill, the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act. It is urgently needed federal action to ensure that federal child welfare funds are not going to be used to punish parents across the country,” Miller insisted during a Friday appearance on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.”

According to a press release from Miller’s office, the bill would:

• “Protect parents from wrongful abuse allegations by clarifying that affirming a child’s biological sex does not constitute child abuse.
• “Safeguard parental custody by barring federally funded state child-welfare systems from removing children from fit parents simply because those parents affirm their child’s biological sex.
• “Ensure foster and adoptive families cannot be denied placement solely because they affirm a child’s biological sex.
• “Amend the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act to prevent states from wrongfully asserting custody over a child.
• “Hold states accountable through federal funding consequences and a private right of action for violations of the Act.”

Senator Eric Schmitt (R- Mo.), responsible for introducing the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act in the Senate, shared in a press release that the legislation is imperative to defend the rights of parents. “The Left’s radical gender ideology is harming children with irreversible treatments and procedures. But in blue states, parents are being punished, and sometimes even separated from their children, for protecting their kids from this permanent damage. It is sickening that a state would impose ideological child-welfare policies to tear apart a family. Parents know what’s best for their own families, and we need to defend their rights to protect their children.”

Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, noted that a parent’s refusal to affirm their child’s gender dysphoria is not abuse. “In fact, doing so is acting in the best interest of the child by protecting them from falling into a false and dangerous ideology.”

“But far too many families have been wrongly investigated and punished by the state for doing that very thing,” she continued. “Far too many foster parents have been barred from caring for children in need because they refuse to use false pronouns. We are grateful to Sen. Schmitt for introducing legislation that will protect families who rightly teach their children that each one is created uniquely, lovingly, by God, male and female.” 

Miller told guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice that there is “no way” authentic common sense will be returning to the Democratic Party anytime soon, adding that progressive politicians will stop at nothing to hold onto legislative power. “They’re evil. They’re liars,” she asserted. “That’s what I’ve observed. It’s a serious thing to call people that, but I’m judging them on what they’ve done and said. … They have led an aggressive campaign targeting our children and targeting anybody that got in their way, just like going after the parents that don’t want to transgender their kids.”

Miller added that despite their antics, those on the far Left might pull the wool over voters’ eyes, but they can’t escape their record. Just this past May, “198 House Democrats voted against requiring parental consent before schools socially transition children, and 201 voted against barring federal Medicaid funds from covering gender transition surgeries for minors,” she explained. 

“They know that [in] America, this is an 80/20 issue,” Miller underscored. “The American people are not on board with transgender children, cutting parents [out] of these decisions and putting boys’ and girls’ private spaces and their athletics. … This is all about them getting power. Nobody should believe them.”