An Alberta legislature member says the province has a duty to step in to deal with “bad parents,” and he compares transgender surgery to the castration of livestock.

United Conservative backbencher Shane Getson made the comment in chamber debate over a bill that uses the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to protect a trio of transgender laws from court challenge.

One law bans gender reassignment surgery for those under 18 and prohibits drug therapies for gender reassignment for anyone under 16.

LGBTQ+ advocates say the law is an intolerable infringement on the rights of patients, and doctors say it’s a dangerous political intervention in what should be clinical decision-making.

READ: Parent of transgender youth reacts to Alberta government’s use of notwithstanding clause

Getson says us

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