A federal judge has blocked California from enforcing school policies that require keeping a student’s “gender identity” from parents, setting up a high-stakes legal fight as state officials move to appeal.
A ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez in San Diego declared California’s so-called parental exclusion or “gender secrecy” policies unconstitutional and imposed a statewide injunction barring their enforcement in public schools. The decision, handed down on December 22, applies across California and requires immediate changes to school district practices.
The case, Mirabelli v. Olson, was brought by two public school teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, who challenged policies that required educators to conceal a student’s “gender identity” or “social transition” from parents without the student’s consent.
Judge Benitez ruled that forcing teachers to withhold such information violates parents’ fundamental rights to direct the upbringing of their children and infringes on teachers’ First Amendment rights to free speech and religious exercise.
“Parents have a right to receive gender information and teachers have a right to provide to parents accurate information about a child’s gender identity,” the judge wrote.
According to the court, compelling teachers to actively conceal information from parents is not a neutral act but affirmative state interference in the parent-child relationship.
The injunction bars state officials from enforcing laws or policies that mislead parents or conceal a student’s gender incongruence. The judge said, “The teachers successfully make out a First Amendment freedom of speech claim when they are compelled to speak in violation of the law or to deliberately convey an illegal message.”
State officials quickly moved to challenge the ruling.
On December 22, the California Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and State Board of Education filed an emergency request seeking to stay the injunction pending appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the filing, state attorneys argued that the ruling “will create chaos and confusion among students, parents, teachers, and staff” and abruptly halts protections for “transgender” and “gender-nonconforming” students.
The state’s lawyers contended that the decision raises “serious questions” on the merits, citing conflicts with other federal appellate rulings and warning of irreparable harm if student gender information is disclosed without consent. The filing also argued that once such information is shared, the information cannot be “un-disclosed.”
Advocacy groups supporting the plaintiffs hailed the ruling as a landmark victory.
Greg Burt of the California Family Council said, “This ruling vindicates what parents’ rights advocates have been saying all along… children do not belong to the government, parents have the right to know what’s happening with their own kids, and teachers should never be forced to lie or stay silent to keep their jobs,” ABC 7 KATV reported.
Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society, which represented the teachers, called the decision a permanent end to California’s “dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools.”
The Attorney General’s office said it has filed an application to stay the injunction and believes the ruling “misapplied the law” and will ultimately be reversed on appeal, according to a statement provided to ABC 7.