Cameron Henderson
20 September 2024 12:33am
The state of California has been accused of trying to keep children’s gender identity a secret from their parents.
State Governor Gavin Newsom in July signed off on legislation which prevents teachers from being required to notify parents about their children’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
Now, Huntington Beach City Council has announced it is suing the state over the new law.
The city in Orange County, southern California, claims it would discourage schools from telling parents if their child is transgender.
Michael Gates, the City Attorney of Huntington Beach accused the state of “unconstitutional overreach”, describing the proposed law as “an intrusion into private family matters”.
“Educators need to stick to reading, writing and arithmetic and not get involved in the parent child relationship,” he said.
The law, which comes into force in January, follows several school boards passing parental notification policies, which required school officials to inform parents about a student’s gender identity with or without the child’s consent.
Its introduction followed a lengthy fight between LGBTQ+ activists and conservative school boards advocating for parental rights.
Earlier this month, Huntington Beach City Council formally adopted an ordinance opposing the introduction of Assembly Bill 1955, known as the SAFETY Act, and declared Huntington Beach a “parents’ right to know city”.
On Wednesday, it filed a lawsuit opposing the state’s “egregious” measures, after a motion passed by four votes to three. Governor Newsom, California attorney general Rob Bonta, and state superintendent of public instruction Tony Thurmond are named as defendants in the case.
Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark released a statement saying the law “puts children at risk” and “is an unconstitutional invasion of the parent/child relationship by the state”.
Last night, the City of Huntington Beach filed a lawsuit against the State of California challenging its new AB 1955 law. This is the same egregious piece of legislation that seeks to compel educators to keep secret from parents sensitive, private, and often life-saving… pic.twitter.com/pAsxg3ta4k
— City of Huntington Beach (@CityofHBPIO) September 18, 2024
America First Legal Foundation, a conservative non-profit founded by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, is covering at least some legal expenses in the case.
“This is the same egregious piece of legislation that seeks to compel educators to keep secret from parents sensitive, private, and often life-saving information related to their child’s gender issues and/or expression,” Ms Van Der Mark said.
The city’s lawsuit argues that a child transitioning or announcing their sexuality is a “personal and private issue, not an educational issue”.
Anonymised accounts from a number of concerned parents are included within the lawsuit, some with children who are not yet teenagers.
One mother claimed a school supported her teenage daughter “socially transitioning” from a girl to a boy – going as far as printing the child a new school name badge with a male name – for an entire school year without telling her.
The mother claimed she was repeatedly denied a meeting with school officials and was forced to file multiple public record requests to obtain information about her child.
Although her daughter no longer identifies as male and is “becoming herself again”, the mother said she fears the new law coming into effect would “undermine” her parental rights and ability to protect the mental health of her child.
Child ‘used male pronouns at school without parent knowing’
According to the lawsuit, another child under the age of 13 came out as trans and began using male pronouns at school without their parent’s knowing.
In what the lawsuit claims was an act of concealment, the school allegedly continued to use the child’s birth name and female pronouns in email correspondence with the parents, while the male name and pronouns were used for homework assignments, and by one of her teachers signing her yearbook.
“We can all agree that a child’s gender confusion and expression issues are very personal and private, and they’re not related to education,” said Mr Gates.
“The mandatory reporting is specifically designed to keep open communication so that parents are constantly informed and can take appropriate action.
“For teachers to then be allowed at their own discretion to prevent that communication is tragic. Think of the abuses that could occur.”
“We’ll have our day in federal court, and we believe pretty strongly that the state’s law violates the 14th amendment of the US constitution.”
The lawsuit states that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right of parents to make decisions about their minor children, particularly regarding the right to refuse medical treatment — in this case, social transitioning.
Social transitioning is when someone is treated as a different gender, for example through the use of facilities such as lavatories and changing rooms and the pronouns by which they are addressed, but they have not had hormonal or surgical intervention.
Law ‘protects children against forced outing policies’
It is understood that the SAFETY law does not bar educators from communicating information about a child’s gender identity or sexual orientation to their parents when it would protect the child’s health or safety.
The law states that it merely clarifies students’ existing privacy rights, rather than enacting new ones.
Huntington Beach City Council’s decision to take legal action has been met with hostility from LGBTQ+ campaigners, who say that the new law protects children who may not feel safe coming out to their parents.
“This critical legislation strengthens protections for LGBTQ+ youth against forced outing policies, provides resources for parents and families of LGBTQ+ students to support them as they have conversations on their terms, and creates critical safeguards to prevent retaliation against teachers and school staff who foster a safe and supportive school environment for all students,” Tony Hoang, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, told the Associated Press.
Contacted for comment by The Telegraph, Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Governor Newsom, said: “This law helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents. It protects the child-parent relationship by preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when, and how families have deeply personal conversations.”
A legal response is yet to be filed.
The post California accused of trying to keep children’s gender identity a secret from parents appeared first on The Telegraph.
