Four Southern California school districts – Chino Valley Unified, Anderson Union High School District, Temecula, and Murrieta Valley – have all recently made moves to give parents more rights and subject LGBTQ students to more strife, and California’s Attorney General Ron Bonta is not having it.
On Tuesday, Bonta announced a lawsuit, filed in Riverside County, to immediately halt a policy the board for Chino Valley Unified school district adopted in July, which, with minimal exceptions, requires schools to inform parents – without the student’s permission – whenever a student requests to use a pronoun or name that is different from that on their birth certificate or other official records.
In addition, the policy requires parent notification if the student chooses to participate in programs or use facilities that do not align with their sex, as identified on official records.
Bonta is challenging this policy in court because he says it “violates the California Constitution and state laws safeguarding civil rights.”
“Every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity – regardless of their gender identity,” Attorney General Bonta said. “We’re in court challenging Chino Valley Unified’s forced outing policy for wrongfully and unconstitutionally discriminating against and violating the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ students. The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home. Our message to Chino Valley Unified and all school districts in California is loud and clear: We will never stop fighting for the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students.”
In the lawsuit, Bonta outlined the state protections this policy infringes upon: California’s equal protection clause; California’s education and government code; and California’s right to privacy clause.
In addition, the lawsuit alleges that transgender and gender non-conforming students are in danger of imminent and irreparable harm from the consequences of these forced outings.
“These students are currently under threat of being outed to their parents against their will, and many fear that the District’s policy will force them to make a choice: either ‘walk back’ their constitutionally and statutorily protected rights to gender identity and gender expression, or face the risk of emotional, physical, and psychological harm,” the Attorney General’s office stated in a press release. “The board’s policy thus unlawfully discriminates against transgender and gender nonbinary students, subjecting them to disparate treatment and harassment, including mental, emotional, and even physical abuse.”
The lawsuit also discusses the board’s motivations to adopt such a policy, asserting that it was “to create and harbor animosity, discrimination, and prejudice” toward these students. Transcripts of the debate prior to voting on the policy show board members referring to trans and gender non-conforming students as “mentally ill,” “perverted,” and a “threat to the integrity of the nation and the family.”
“Attorney General Bonta has a substantial interest in protecting the legal rights, physical safety, and mental health of children in California schools, and in protecting them from trauma, harassment, bullying, and exposure to violence and threats of violence,” the press release continued. “Research shows that protecting a transgender student’s ability to make choices about how and when to inform others is critical to their well-being, as transgender students are exposed to high levels of harassment and mistreatment at school and in their communities.”
Last week, Bonta issued statements regarding the three other school districts, who plan to implement copycat gender identity disclosure policies targeting trans and gender non-conforming students. Stay tuned.To review a copy of the lawsuit, visit bit.ly/3P0365y.
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