Parents have a constitutional right to be informed if their child changes their gender presentation at school, and schools can’t hide that information from parents, a San Diego federal judge ruled in a class-action lawsuit. In a 52-page decision handed down Monday night, Judge Roger Benitez ruled that parents have a constitutional right to know if their child may be transgender and that California public schools cannot in any way prevent employees from notifying parents. In a separate order, he barred them from violating that right. The injunction bans any public school employee from misleading parents about their child’s gender presentation at school, such as by using different pronouns or names with a parent than the student uses at school. The ruling also bars employees from calling students by names or pronouns that don’t match their legal ones if their parents object. The state, which is defending the case, has already appealed and asked for a stay of Benitez’s decision. State attorneys said his injunction could bring significant harm to students by having schools out them without their consent. “The Court’s sweeping injunction, which forecloses enforcement of state constitutional and statutory protections applicable in the school environment, inflicts severe and indisputable irreparable harm on California,” lawyers with Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office wrote in their request. Monday’s decision caps a lawsuit filed in April 2023 by two now-former Escondido Union School District teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West. Citing their Christian faith, the two challenged their district’s policy barring school employees from telling parents about a student’s transgender status without the student’s consent, arguing it violated their First Amendment rights. The case has primarily been defended by the state, since Escondido based its policy off state guidance. The district has since changed its policy because of the litigation and no longer bars parental notification. In granting the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, Benitez wrote that it’s wrong to deprive parents of significant information that may affect their child’s well-being and health. He also said the First Amendment protects teachers’ right to inform them. Throughout his ruling, Benitez repeatedly invoked the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which the justices sided with religious parents who wanted to opt their children out of reading books with LGBTQ+ content in public schools. “We believe that the district court misapplied the law and that the decision will ultimately be reversed on appeal,” a spokesperson for Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said in an email Tuesday. “We are committed to securing school environments that allow transgender students to safely participate as their authentic selves while recognizing the important role that parents play in students’ lives.” The teachers’ attorney Paul Jonna, special counsel with the conservative law firm the Thomas More Society, applauded the ruling. “Today’s incredible victory finally, and permanently, ends California’s dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools,” he said in a statement. “The Court’s comprehensive ruling — granting summary judgment on all claims — protects all California parents, students, and teachers, and it restores sanity and common sense.” Meanwhile LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group Equality California called the decision dangerous, saying it broadly targets multiple state laws and protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming students. “These protections exist for one reason: to keep students safe and ensure schools remain places where young people can learn and thrive without fear,” said Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang in a statement. State officials have argued that telling parents of possible changes to their child’s gender without the student’s permission would violate trust between students and teachers that is needed for a safe learning environment. “A fear of nonconsensual disclosure can not only harm a student academically, but disincentivizes the type of open communication that allows the student to report instances of harm, bullying, or depression,” state attorneys said in their stay request. State attorneys have also argued that outing a student to parents could put them at risk of abuse. But Benitez wrote that it’s wrong to assume that and said most parents want the best for their children. He suggested that being transgender involves health problems, such as mental health issues, and parents need to be able to seek medical care for their child. His ruling cited testimony from Erica Anderson, a psychologist known for being critical of the number of young people identifying as transgender and saying they should not transition without their parents’ support. In his ruling, Benitez also described having a transgender child a burden to parents. “The difficult and long-lasting issues of gender nonconformity leave parents to suffer adverse consequences over a lifetime. The State Defendants … will not be exposed to a lifetime of a student’s mental health issues. Instead, that will be the parents’ grief to bear alone,” he wrote. Hoang, of Equality California, said that parents should be involved in their children’s lives but such conversations about a child’s gender identity should happen when families are ready. “California’s student protections recognize the importance of family involvement, while also acknowledging that forcing a student to come out before they are ready can cause harm,” Hoang said. Since the former Escondido teachers filed their lawsuit in 2023, the state education department has backtracked on its policy regarding notifying parents. The agency used to say on its website that public school employees must not tell parents or others about a student’s transgender status without the student’s consent. It removed that guidance this year following a new state law, AB 1955, that bars schools from requiring staff to notify parents about a student’s gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation without the student’s consent. That law does not go as far as to say that school employees must not tell parents. It only prohibits schools from requiring employees to do so. ...read more read less