As lawsuits unfold in courts across the state over student privacy when it comes to gender identity, a bill introduced in the California Legislature on Wednesday aims to unilaterally end notification policies parents and protect teachers caught in the fray.
Assemblyman Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego) is pushing legislation that would protect teachers from “any retaliation” for supporting the rights of transgender students and ban school policies requiring “forced disclosure” of gender decisions from young people to their families.
The bill is the latest attempt by Democrats to rein in Republican-backed school board policies, including those that seek to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns, or requests to use facilities or participate in programs that They do not match their gender. in official records.
Conservatives across the country are promoting these measures in the name of parental rights. LGBTQ+ advocates have called the policies an attack on transgender children who don't feel safe expressing themselves at home.
Ward called the measures “forced departure” policies and said the new legislation is intended to reaffirm and clarify California's stance on the issue, and would provide guidance to families of LGBTQ+ students to help them navigate this sensitive issue. .
“Nothing ever infringed on the relationship between parents and children. Nothing is today, and nothing would be if this bill were enacted,” Ward said before a news conference in Sacramento on Wednesday. “But that is not the job of teachers: to be gender police.”
Since school boards in conservative areas of California began engaging in culture wars over the rights of LGBTQ+ students last summer, a series of lawsuits and conflicting rulings have further complicated the debate over the constitutionality of the right to rights. minors to privacy.
California Lawyer. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit last year against the Chino school district, alleging that its parental notification policy was discriminatory and violated civil rights and privacy laws.
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge ruled in a preliminary hearing that the policy was discriminatory because it specifically targeted transgender students. What led to the Chino Valley The Board of Education will review the policy to extend it to all students seeking changes to their records.
Bonta filed a new motion against the district last month seeking a final ruling to ensure school board members do not attempt to recreate the policy as they have continued to express support.
A Temecula teachers union also sued school officials over a similar policy. In that case, Riverside County The Superior Court judge allowed the policy for now. And in Chico, a mother lost a legal battle over allegations that the school district failed to inform her about her son's gender identity issues.
“We need legal guidance,” Ward said. “The lack of it is contributing to the confusion.”
Meanwhile, anti-transgender activists are backing a ballot measure that would not only require schools across the state to notify parents about students' gender changes, but would also ban some transgender health care for minors and enact new rules about school bathrooms and sports teams. The unlikely ballot measure has not yet garnered enough signatures to appear on the November ballot.
If that measure passes, it could overturn the law Ward is trying to pass.
Republicans were quick Wednesday to call the legislation an overreach by California Democrats on family issues.
The bill “would exclude parents from their children's education,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) said on social media.
“If something happens to a child's health or well-being, parents have a right to know,” he said.
It is still unclear what the law requires of teachers amid ongoing legal debates over parental notification and student privacy.
A Riverside County school district agreed to pay $360,000 last week to settle a lawsuit from a former teacher who said she was fired for refusing to comply with a requirement to use students' preferred pronouns and, in some cases, withholding that information. to the parents. She said the policy violated her freedom of expression and her religious rights.
However, the focus of Wednesday's Democrat-packed news conference in Sacramento was the alternative possibility that teachers would be forced to violate students' privacy to alert their families about their gender expression.
“Having a forceful policy like a push-out policy that requires a teacher to undermine that trust puts up a wall to being able to provide that education,” said Jeff Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers. “Tell me your pronoun, I'll use it, we'll move forward and I'll teach you.”
State Superintendent. Public Instruction's Tony Thurmond, who announced plans to run for governor in 2026, endorsed Ward and members of the California LGBTQ Legislative Caucus in support of the bill, pointing to laws already in place that protect students transgender, including gender. Neutral bathroom requirements in schools.
“California students know who they are and who they are becoming. No one else should try to define who our students are,” Thurmond said. “This is a personal matter. This is a security issue. “This is a privacy issue.”
Times staff writer Howard Blume contributed to this report.
