A state lawsuit has temporarily paused Chino Valley Unified School District’s new parental notification policy.
The policy, adopted July 20 with a 4-1 vote, directs school employees to inform parents if their child asks to go by a pronoun or name different from that in their birth certificate, or if they ask to use facilities or participate in programs that don’t align with their official sex.
The Sept. 6 ruling by San Bernardino Superior Judge Tom Garza puts the policy on hold until he decides whether the case should be further halted by a preliminary injunction.
Parents can be trusted with the news of their children’s gender preferences, School Board President Sonja Shaw said during the public hearing that passed the resolution
“Stop assuming that parents are dangerous. That’s reckless. Because a household is affirming or non-affirming, right now they’re saying that non-affirming households are dangerous. Where do you get that? Actually, if you ask me, and I’ve listened to tons of parents, it’s actually very safe to be a non-affirming, caring, loving household,” Shaw said.
Board member Andrew Cruz said that transgender people have a mental illness.
“There’s always been man, woman and then you have this, transgender, and it’s not going to stop there. It’s going to keep on rolling, rolling, rolling, because it really is a dismantling of our humanity, and it is an illusion, it is mental illness, and what is so sad is that we are saving children,” Cruz said.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed his case Sept. 26, arguing the policy violates state constitutional rights to privacy, and could lead to parental abuse. Bonta argues the policy violates the California Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, the constitutional right to privacy, California Education Code Sections 200 and 220, and Government Code Section 11135.
“San Bernardino Superior Court’s decision to issue a temporary restraining order rightfully upholds the state rights of our LGBTQ+ student community and protects kids from harm by immediately halting the board’s forced outing policy,” Bonta said in a press release.
Bonta’s request to place the temporary hold said that the policy violated the California Constitution’s equal protection clause in regard to gender identity, and harms gender nonconforming students.
The Murrieta Valley School Board passed a copycat parental notification policy Aug. 10. The Temecula Valley Unified School District passed their own Aug. 22. The Anderson Union High School District in Northern California passed their own Aug. 22, and the Rocklin Unified School District, by Sacramento, passed one Sept. 6.
The court will hold a hearing on the preliminary injunction Oct. 13.
Deputy Attorneys General Delbert Tran, Alexander Simpson and James Zahradka bring the case.
Anthony P. De Marco and Attorney William A. Diedrich represent the school district.
Case No. CIVSB2317301
Read the complaint here.
Read the policy here.
Read prior coverage here.
