Californians ask SCOTUS to allow forced outing of students

A conservative legal group representing parents and teachers in California filed an emergency appeal The U.S. Supreme Court has asked that school officials be allowed to inform parents about a student’s transgender identity, including his or her chosen name and pronouns, even without the student’s consent.

In 2016, the California Department of Education issued legal guidance advising school districts to “accept and respect students when they express their gender identity at school,” consult with students about who they can share their gender identity with, and respect limits students place on disclosure except in “very rare” circumstances. In 2024, California became the first state to pass this guidance into law. Other states have passed laws mandating or facilitating the expulsion of transgender or all LGBTQ+ students.

Related: Forced confinement leads to higher rates of depression among LGBTQ+ youth, but the law persists

Related: Judge blocks California school district’s transgender ban

In 2023, four teachers in the Escondido Union School District filed a federal lawsuit against the state policy, alleging it violates their rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. They are Elizabeth Mirabelli, Lorie Ann West, and two teachers identified by the pseudonyms Jane Boe and Jane Roe, and are represented by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society.

Mirabelli and West, The Thomas More Society says: “As Christians, they believe that God created their precious students as unalterably and unmistakably male and female. Yet, under EUSD’s parental exclusion policy, they were forced to perpetuate a highly immoral scheme of deception against parents of children suffering from gender dysphoria.”

The suit was originally known as Mirabelli vs. Olson; Mark Olson, president of the Escondido Board of Education. Parents in other California school districts quickly joined the lawsuit. They said their children were experiencing social transitions at school without them knowing. The lawsuit is currently ongoing as California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been added as a defendant. Mirabelli vs. Bonta.

On December 22, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, appointed by George W. a permanent injunction was granted blocking national policy. “Parents have a right to receive gender information, and teachers have a right to provide parents with accurate information about their child’s gender identity,” he wrote. Mr. Benitez also certified the case as a class action, so his ruling affects all California public school parents, students, and teachers.

But on January 5, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the injunction to be suspended. The justices expressed doubts about the status of the class action, citing guidance from the attorney general that allows teachers to disclose a student’s gender identity without the student’s consent “when absolutely necessary to protect the student’s health.”

“Thus, it is not clear from the district court’s order which specific policies are at issue, and it is questionable whether all of those policies categorically prohibit disclosure,” the commission said. The justices also said constitutional arguments by parents and teachers were unlikely to succeed.

The panel consisted of Chief Justice Mary H. Magia, Andrew D. Hurwitz, and Salvador Mendoza Jr. Mr. Magia and Mr. Hurwitz were appointed by President Barack Obama, and Mr. Mendoza was appointed by President Joe Biden.

Three days after the Court of Appeals decision, the Thomas More Society and its customers submitted an emergency application The Supreme Court has asked for the suspension to be lifted. They also asked for the case to be reconsidered by the entire Ninth Circuit, but the filing says the California parents’ “religious and fundamental parental rights, as well as the health and safety of their children, are too precious to delay seeking relief from the Supreme Court.”

The high court has not decided whether to take up the case. Justice Sonia Sotomayor Deadline set for January 21st To enable California authorities to submit a response to your application.

The court is also considering whether to issue its next judgment. similar case In Massachusetts, parents objected to a confidentiality policy regarding gender identity. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against the parents in February.