Westneat: False outrage falls flat

Currently, shelter operators are supposed to notify parents when a teen shows up. There are some important exceptions, like if a teen shows signs of being neglected or abused. Staff are supposed to then call the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. That agency acts as a go-between to call the parents to attempt a “reunification.”

This system was set up because runaway teens would sometimes run away from shelters themselves when they learned a parent was about to be called. The point isn’t to “TAKE CHILDREN AWAY FROM PARENTS,” it’s to keep the kids from living homeless on the streets.

The uproar came when lawmakers added a new exception — if the kids are running away because they want an abortion or gender-based care. Again, the shelter is supposed to call the state agency. In turn, the agency is directed to pair the teen with counseling, as well as to contact family.

Though these rules for runaway shelters have been around for some time, when they were applied to the topics of abortion and gender, all MAGA broke loose. “Insanity. This is govt. sanctioned kidnapping,” Trump Jr. tweeted another time about the bill to his 10 million followers.

“Reject legalized kidnapping” was then one slogan adopted for a Washington state referendum campaign against the law.

It’s a fraught situation when a teen runs away, but it didn’t seem to matter that the law didn’t address parental custody at all.

“The statute includes no language that allows for children to be taken away from the parents,” said a Seattle University law professor, speaking to the tireless fact-check organization Lead Stories.

The new law also doesn’t touch on kids getting gender surgeries without parental approval. The age for that medical consent remains 18, according to Seattle Children’s hospital.

As I said up top, I was nervous about all this anyway. Not that this was a bad law, but that our state would become consumed with a fall election campaign featuring no end of culture war-mongering and trans-bashing.

So the great news is: The “reject legalized kidnapping” referendum campaign just announced it fell at least 5,000 signatures short, out of more than 162,000 needed. It marks the third year in a row with no initiatives or referendums on the statewide ballot.

This effort didn’t succeed largely because the state Republican Party didn’t give money to the cause. Initially, the state Catholic Conference also didn’t back this latest referendum, decreeing in June that parishes couldn’t be used for signature gathering. It switched, though, and supported the campaign during the final month. It should have stuck with the right call it made the first time.

Bottom line: Washington just dodged a bullet. There’s little doubt the campaign would have brought out the hype and the hate. See above tweets. If nothing else, Don Jr.’s now going to have to find some other state to make stuff up about.

Meanwhile, we’ve got plenty of major problems here that deserve some shouting and campaigning. We’re the overdose epicenter in the drug crisis. We have still-unrepaired pandemic learning loss in the schools. And there’s the mammoth challenge of the coming energy transition, to name just three.

That we aren’t going to squander the rest of the year on fake outrage? Maybe I’m too accepting of the low bar of modern politics, but that counts as a big win.