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Federal Judge Blocks California School Gender-Secrecy Policies, Citing Parents’ and Teachers’ Rights

A San Diego court issued a permanent, statewide injunction barring officials from enforcing rules that keep parents uninformed about a child’s social gender transition.

Overview

  • U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez granted summary judgment in Mirabelli v. Olson and entered a class-wide permanent injunction.
  • The order enjoins Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Department of Education, and school employees from policies that conceal or misstate a student’s gender identity to parents.
  • Benitez held that parents have Fourteenth Amendment informational rights and that teachers have First Amendment speech and free-exercise protections to communicate accurate gender information.
  • The injunction specifies that staff may not mislead parents, withhold education records, or use different names or pronouns with parents over a parent’s objection, and it directs PRISM training to reflect these rights.
  • The decision conflicts with AB 1955’s privacy framework, and the Attorney General’s office has not said whether it will appeal.