Californians allowed to sue over schools’ gender policies

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez on Wednesday certified a class action lawsuit representing California parents and teachers, allowing their litigation to move forward. The suit challenges school district policies across the state that allow employees to conceal a child’s so-called gender identity from the child’s parents and guardians. By certifying the case as a class action suit, Benitez allowed it to move forward on behalf of all teachers and parents in the state, not just the original plaintiffs. A hearing was scheduled for Nov. 17 where Benitez was expected to consider if California’s policies violate parents' constitutional rights.

In California, when a student changes his or her preferred pronouns, school districts legally cannot require their staff to notify parents. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized parents’ rights to direct their child’s upbringing, said Peter Breen, head of litigation at the Thomas More Society. The public interest law firm is representing the plaintiffs in the case.

What is the background of the case? In 2023, Escondido Union School District teachers Lori Ann West and Elizabeth Mirabelli sued the district, the California State Board of Education, and other officials over the policy. They said the district violated their free speech rights by requiring them to keep important information about a student from their parents, and that the policy forced them to lie. Meanwhile, the district held that it was not forcing anyone to lie and that it had the authority to regulate what teachers share with parents. In 2023, Benitez blocked the district’s policy while the case moved forward and said the practice could harm children by depriving them of parental guidance and mental health care.

What else has happened with these policies? California Gov. Gavin Newsom in July 2024 signed into law a bill that barred schools from requiring administrators to tell parents about their child’s gender identity. Even before the bill was signed, a coalition of interfaith organizations in January of 2024 backed a lawsuit brought against the Montgomery County Board of Education over a similar policy. Later in the year, the city of Huntington Beach and a group of parents sued the state over the law. In March this year, the Trump administration’s Department of Education opened an investigation into whether the state’s policies violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Dig deeper: Read Kayla Toney’s report about one California elementary school that tried to hide its teachings about gender ideology.