Overview
- U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled on Dec. 22 that California may not bar public school staff from informing parents about a student’s gender identity at school and barred employees from misleading parents or using different names and pronouns with parents than at school.
- The judge grounded the decision in parents’ due-process rights and teachers’ free-speech and free-exercise claims, citing the Supreme Court’s recent Mahmoud v. Taylor decision.
- The Ninth Circuit first issued an administrative pause, then on Jan. 5 granted a broader stay, expressing skepticism about the ruling, faulting the injunction as sweeping and ambiguous, and warning of confusion for schools.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta argued in seeking the stay that involuntary disclosure can inflict severe emotional harm on transgender students, including depression and, in extreme cases, suicide.
- Plaintiffs represented by the Thomas More Society said they will seek review by a larger Ninth Circuit panel and may ask the Supreme Court to intervene; the case originated with Escondido Union School District teachers in 2023 and is reported as separate from the state’s 2024 AB 1955.