California is facing a lawsuit over a new law that bars schools from requiring parents to be notified of their children’s gender dysphoria.
Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of Chino Valley Unified School District and several concerned parents of California public school children challenging California Assembly Bill 1955, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Monday. The law immediately faced opposition from parents and lawmakers who feared that the bill trampled parents’ rights and would be harmful to children.
Several California schools had implemented policies that required school officials to notify parents if their child requested to change their pronouns or gender throughout 2023, which faced legal challenges and ultimately prompted the new law.
“PK-12 minor students, most of whom are too young to drive, vote, or provide medical consent for themselves, are also too young to make life-altering decisions about their expressed gender identity without their parents’ knowledge. But that is precisely what AB 1955 enables—with potentially devastating consequences for children too young to fully comprehend them,” Emily Rae, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement.
“School officials do not have the right to keep secrets from parents, but parents do have a constitutional right to know what their minor children are doing at school. Parents are the legal guardians of their children, not Governor Newsom, Attorney General Bonta, or Superintendent Thurmond. We will continue to defend parents’ rights and children’s well-being by challenging invasive laws like AB 1955 in court, at no cost to taxpayers,” Rae continued.
Izzy Gardon, director of communications for Newsom, bashed critics of the bill in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“This is a deeply unserious lawsuit, seemingly designed to stoke the dumpster fire formerly known as Twitter rather than surface legitimate legal claims,” Gardon said. “AB 1955 preserves the child-parent relationship, California law ensures minors can’t legally change their name or gender without parental consent, and parents continue to have guaranteed and full access to their student’s educational records consistent with federal law. We’re confident the state will swiftly prevail in this case.”
Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Newsom, said on Tuesday that the law is meant to protect children and parents.
“[The law] 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.”
“By signing AB1955, Governor Newsom has signaled he’s no longer running for president. This law enshrines the ability of teachers to keep secrets from parents and is inconsistent with our long-standing jurisprudence that parents have a right to raise their children without government interference,” said California Assemblyman Bill Essayli. Essayli has been an open critic of the bill since its conception, calling it ‘immoral’ and ‘unconstitutional’ in a statement released just after the law’s signing on Monday.
California is the first state to ban such parental notification policies.
Liberty Justice Center and Chino Valley Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Featured image credit: Screen Capture/ABC7 News Bay Area)
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