California Judge Halts School Policy Outing Trans Students for Now

A superior court judge temporarily halted a California school district from implementing a policy requiring teachers and staff to inform parents about a student’s gender identity.

San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael Sachs on Thursday found Chino Valley Unified School District's new policy outing trans students violated the state’s constitution because it discriminated on the basis of the student’s sexual identity. The policy required the school to notify parents in writing within three days of learning of changes to or questions surrounding a student's gender identity.

Sach reportedly took a hard line against the school board, according to local ABC affiliate KABC-TV.

“Before voting to enact the policy, board members described students who are transgender or gender non-conforming as suffering from a mental illness,” Sachs said in court. “That same board member further likened the issues related to gender identity to a death culture and claimed that the policy was needed because ‘women are being erased.’”

Sachs wrote in his ruling that some trans students are able to come out while others are not, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, and that his “job as a judge is to have their backs.”

Last month California Superior Court Judge Thomas Garza issued a temporary restraining order halting implementation of the policy until further review by the courts. The suit was filed in August by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“The policy, adopted in July, requires schools to inform parents, with minimal exceptions, whenever a student requests to use a name or pronoun different from that on their birth certificate or official records, even without the student’s permission,” Bonta said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “The policy also requires notification if a student requests to use facilities or participates in programs that don't align with their sex on official records.”

The school district is represented by the Liberty Justice Center. LJC President Jacob Huebert said the ruling defied existing law and precedent.

“The Fourteenth Amendment and over a century of legal precedent guarantee parents the right to direct their children’s upbringing, and nothing in California law requires schools to keep secrets about children from their parents,” Huebert said in a statement after the ruling. “We are confident that as litigation continues, the Court will find that the Attorney General’s case has no legal basis and will rule in Chino Valley’s favor.”