SoCal school district sues Newsom over state's new child gender identity law
District sues Newsom for gender notification law
The Chino Valley Unified School District is suing California Gov. Gavin Newsom over AB1955, the new law that bans school districts from requiring educators to notify parents if students want to go by a different gender than their official school records.
CHINO, Calif. - A Southern California school district filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state challenging Assembly Bill 1955 which prohibits schools from notifying parents of their child’s gender identification change.
The law bans school rules requiring teachers and other staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to any other person without the child’s permission. Proponents of the legislation say it will help protect LGBTQ+ students who live in unwelcoming households.
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The Chino Valley Unified School District and a handful of parents argued the law violates the rights of parents protected under the U.S. Constitution.
"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. But that is precisely what AB 1955 enables—with potentially devastating consequences for children too young to fully comprehend them," said Emily Rae, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, which filed the lawsuit.
Newsom signed AB 1955 into law on July 15. It will go into effect January 1, 2025.
"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," Rae added in her statement.
She said they will fight AB 1955 in court, at no cost to taxpayers.
SUGGESTED: California temporarily blocks Chino Valley Unified School District's transgender policy
Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Chino Valley Unified over a rule its board approved last year requiring school staff to notify parents if their children change their gender identification or pronouns. Bonta said the law discriminated against gender non-conforming students. A judge halted the policy while the case plays out, and the district later updated the rule to broadly require parents to be notified if their child asks to make any changes to their student records.
The Associated Press contributed to this report