New York Democrats push to replace ‘mother’ with ‘gestating parent’ under inclusivity drive

New York Democrats have introduced a bill to replace the term "mother" with "gestating parent" in state child custody and parental laws.

The new bill will also replace the term "father" becomes "non-gestating parent" in family court along with in domestic and education law, under the legislation, passed this week by state Democrats.

Proceedings to determine "paternity" will now be replaced with "parentage" cases under the law, which passed the New York State Assembly in March and through the Senate this week.

A "putative father" would now be referred to as an "alleged parent" in official state records under the bill.

Co-sponsored by Democrats Luis Sepulveda in the State Senate and Amy Paulin in the State Assembly, the over 15,000-word legislation will now go to New York Governor Kathy Hochul for approval.

Critics have described the legislation as an example of unnecessary "woke" virtue signalling.

Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar told the New York Post: "It's woke culture run amok. It's one-upmanship.

"It's an example of how out of tune the New York legislature is. It's an unnecessary and wasteful use of time."

There was likely to be an increase in gender-neutral bills he said, adding that state lawmaker's priorities were backwards.

He said: "Imagine people who are considering moving to New York seeing this and saying, 'Do I need this silliness?' This is a really weird group of elected officials. It comes out of left field."

Bruce Blakeman, Republican gubernatorial candidate, said described the bill as "insanity".

"Democrats led by Kathy Hochul have continued their declaration of war on New York families by canceling the loving terms of Mom and Dad and replacing them with 'gestating and non-gestating parent'," he said in a statement.

LATEST IN NEW YORK:

• Zohran Mamdani now faces MUSLIM fury as worshippers accuse NYC Mayor of 'promoting extreme Islamism'
• Woman arrested after statue of Jesus Christ is BEHEADED in New York
• New York grandmother dies after falling into open manhole in front of horrified passers-by

And one Democratic lawmaker admitted to the New York Post the bill was "unnecessary".

Infighting within the left-wing party resulted in the delay of the massive $268billion state budget by nearly two months.

Mrs Hochul - who could still veto the bill - avoided saying if she supported the bill when asked on Wednesday.

She said: "Well, I’m not familiar with what was introduced. I'll take a look at it. This has been my practice for five years."

A group representing New York family lawyers said the use of terms "mother" and "father" were outdated because of the rise in same-sex couples adoptions and surrogacy contracts as it supported the bill in March.

Republican US Representative Claudia Tenney from New York blasted the state politicians, saying mothers were "the foundation of families and society" and not a "political construct".

She said: "At a time when New Yorkers are struggling with high taxes, rising costs, and public safety concerns, Albany Democrats are focused on redefining motherhood.

"This is yet another example of out-of-touch politicians prioritizing progressive ideology over the issues that actually matter to hardworking New Yorkers."

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter