A California judge has temporarily blocked a school district from enforcing a policy requiring schools to inform parents if their child changes their gender identification or pronouns.
The decision Wednesday by San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Garza came after California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office filed a lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District over the notification measure.
“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 Wednesday. “While this fight is far from over, today’s ruling takes a significant step towards ensuring the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of inclusivity.”
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta fields questions during a press conference in Los Angeles. (AP)
Chino Valley Unified Board of Education President Sonja Shaw told the Associated Press she was disappointed by the ruling.
“I don’t understand why they are so gung ho on this issue, but everything else we have to inform the parents about,” Shaw told the AP. “There is obviously an issue and parents are concerned.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the school district and school board members.
Bonta’s lawsuit accuses the district of violating the Protection Clause and Education and Government Code and constitutional right to privacy.
“I’m not surprised at the aggressive stance Sacramento is taking against the District for daring to question motives and agendas that don’t sit well with parents and families fighting to keep themselves involved in the life’s of children,” Shaw previously told Fox News Digital.
A person holds a sign in opposition to a policy that the Chino Valley school board is meeting to vote on which would require school staff to “out” students to their parents if they ask to be identified by a gender that is not listed on their birth certificate. (David McNew/Getty Images/File)
The district, which serves 27,000 students 35 miles east of Los Angeles, is one of several statewide that have implemented measures that require parents to be informed if their children are transgender.
Bonta said the policy will out transgender students to their parents and threaten their well-being.
Delbert Tran, a deputy attorney general for California, on Wednesday said students were already being affected by the policy and feared being themselves at school, and that risking the safety of one transgender student would be too many. “This policy needs to be addressed now,” Tran told the court.
A parents rights supporter holds up a sign during Chino Valley Unified School District board meeting at Don Lugo High School in Chino. A California judge on Wednesday halted a school district policy requiring parents be notified if their children change their gender identification or pronouns at school. (Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images/File)
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Attorneys for Chino Valley Unified argued that the policy would not affect students who were holding private conversations with teachers, but would bring parents into the conversation in situations where students were making decisions on campus such as changing their name, pronouns or using bathrooms, or joining sports teams of a gender other than the one on their official paperwork.
Fox News’ Joshua Q. Nelson as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
