The raging legal dispute over whether public school teachers can block parents from knowing if their children have adopted a transgender identity at school continues to intensify, as a San Bernardino County school district has joined with parents and public interest legal organization to challenge a new California state law that requires school teachers and other staff to keep parents in the dark.
On July 16, attorneys from the Liberty Justice Center filed suit on behalf of the Chino Valley Unified School District and several parents of students in California public schools to challenge that new state law.
“School officials do not have the right to keep secrets from parents, but parents do have a constitutional right to know what their minor children are doing at school," said Emily Rae, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. "Parents are the legal guardians of their children, not Governor (Gavin) Newsom, Attorney General (Rob) Bonta, or (State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony) Thurmond."
Emily Rae
| Liberty Justice Center
Known as AB1955, the legislation was enacted by the state's Democrat-dominated legislature and signed into law by Gov. Newsom on July 15. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
The law was proposed by Superintendent Thurmond and lawmakers from the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus specifically to prohibit schools from enacting policies that would require teachers, counselors and administrators to notify parents if their children wish to change their gender identification at school, ask to be referred to by different names or pronouns or wish to access bathrooms, athletic programs or other school programs which are typically restricted to the opposite sex.
The law came as the state's official answer to an eruption of court fights over the ability of public school teachers and other staff to keep parents in the dark about their children's gender identity and potential transitions.
Newsom's office hailed AB9155, saying in published comments that the new law would "keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents" and "preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when, and how families have deeply personal conversations."
Opponents of the legislation, however, say the law directly empowers teachers to interfere in family matters by keeping critical information about their children from parents.
In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Sacramento, the plaintiffs assert AB1955 tramples parents' constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and the First Amendment to direct the upbringing of their children.
They note the law further directs school teachers and others to violate parents' and students' religious rights by prohibiting elected school boards from enacting policies requiring schools to communicate with parents about their students' gender identities and instead encouraging schools to adopt policies requiring teachers to withhold such information from parents.
The school district asserts the law also places it in the position of being forced to violate parents' constitutional rights.
"PK-12 minor students, most of whom are too young to drive, vote, or provide medical consent for themselves, are also too young to make life-altering decisions about their expressed gender identity without their parents’ knowledge," the lawsuit says.
"But that is precisely what AB1955 enables, with severe consequences for children too young to fully comprehend them."
The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring AB1955 unconstitutional and blocking the state from enforcing it.
In published reports, Newsom's office has discounted the new lawsuit, saying they expect to quickly prevail.