CALIFORNIA, USA — The question is do parents have a right to be notified if their child wishes to change their gender identification or pronouns. And it's a controversial topic in California school districts and across the nation.
On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the SAFETY Act into law preventing school districts from being required to notify parents if a student wishes to identify differently.
Newsom was sued the next day by the Chino Valley Unified School District and eight families.
Emily Rae is an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center representing the district and families.
“Parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Parents have the right to make decisions for their children, and our argument here is (Assembly Bills) 1955 violates that right because it takes parents out of the equation," she said. "It prevents parents from knowing they will be notified if their child wants to socially transition at school. Another claim is it violates the First Amendment free exercise clause in that our parent plaintiffs are Christian; they are raising their children Christian and their religion says gender is immutable. And the fact that their children can go to school and socially transition, have the school facilitate their child socially transition without their knowledge and involvement, violates their religious rights."
Rae is arguing the law violates the First and 14th Amendments, but also the Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA), which gives parents certain rights to access school records and information.
Bill author, Assemblymember Chris Ward of San Diego, posed an argument about the Fourth Amendment, the student's right to privacy.
“This absolutely harms youth. It sets them back. As someone who has personally had to go through the coming out process, it's personal and you want to be in control of your privacy,” Ward said.
His bill goes into effect in January.
It stops districts from enacting so called “outing policies,” provides resources to students and parents and prevents retaliation to staff that won’t share if a child has decided to identify differently.
“It still does allow for situations where as mandated reporters if you're see that a student is having a declining experience... it doesn’t prohibit the disclosure of information. It prohibits requiring all teachers to forcibly out students if they hear some of this hearsay, and that’s been an important distinction,” Ward said.
Kristi Hirst is a mom of three children in the district that is suing Newsom.
She said she’s watched her district spend $1 million on the fight.
“This has already been a tumultuous school year,” Hirst said.
But she also represents thousands of kids and their families across the nation with Our Schools USA and is concerned for the quality of education.
“You do have students who are not safe to go home and tell their families. And schools cannot be successful if students do not feel safe,” Hirst said.
The SAFETY Act does not prohibit teachers from sharing gender identity information with parents. It just makes it so they aren’t required to, giving teachers discretion.
The law firm said there’s still time for other districts to join the lawsuit.
In a statement, governor's spokesperson Brandon Richards said the following:
"This law helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents. It protects the child-parent relationship by preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when, and how families have deeply personal conversations.”
ABC10 reached out to Rocklin Unified School District, a district that passed a parental notification policy, but did not hear back.
The Dry Creek Board of Trustees, another school district with a parental notification policy, directed ABC10 to their communication office, but the inquiry was not immediately returned.
A full copy of the lawsuit can be found below.
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