California sues school district over policy ‘outing’ trans students to parents

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing to block a local school district’s policy to inform parents if their child expresses they may be transgender.

The Chino Valley Unified School District policy, which went into effect in July, forces employees to notify parents if their children ask to use a different name or pronoun or seek to use bathrooms and programs that don’t align with their birth gender while at school.

School staff must alert parents in such cases — even if they don’t have the student’s permission to make the disclosure.

The AG argues the policy violates anti-discrimination and privacy laws and threatens students mental well being, according to the suit filed in San Bernardino Superior Court on Monday — three weeks after classes started in the district on Aug. 7.

The policy places transgender and non-binary students “in danger of imminent, irreparable harm form the consequences of forced disclosures,” as the students will be forced to choose between walking back their constitutional right to gender identity and expression “or face the risk of emotional, physical and psychological harm from non-affirming or unaccepting parents or guardians,” the suit charges.

Bonta also claims the Board of Education in the district enacted the policy out of animosity toward transgender students, which was made clear at a July 20 board hearing where members claimed trans students were suffering from “mental illness” or “perversion” and were a threat to families and the country as a whole, according to the filing.

The meeting made national headlines when California’s state superintendent of schools Tony Thurmond was kicked out after he clashed with Chino Valley school district official Sonja Shaw.

Bonta says he brought the suit to protect students from potential trauma, bullying, harassment or potential violence.

“Every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity – regardless of their gender identity,” Bonta said in a statement Monday. “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.”

Bonta is asking a judge for an emergency ruling blocking the policy and to ultimately find it unconstitutional.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed a series of similar lawsuits against several school districts in the Garden State over policies forcing school staff to notify parents if their children change their gender identity.

Earlier this month, a judge in that case issued a temporary restraining order blocking the forced disclosure policies from being implemented.

Andi Johnson, a spokesperson with the Chino Valley Unified School District, had been cooperating with Bonta’s office leading up to the suit, providing requested documents to the office.

Johnson also said that in cases where the student believes they would be in danger if their parents were told they were trans, the schools would wait for approval from authorities before notifying them.

“I can share that the Parent Notification policy does protect transgender students by requiring staff to notify CPS/law enforcement if the student believes they are in danger or have been abused, injured, or neglected due to their parent or guardian knowing of their preferred gender identity,” Johnson said.

“In these circumstances, CVUSD staff will not notify parents or guardians, but rather, wait for the appropriate agencies to complete their investigations regarding the concerns shared by the student.”