California’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against a nearby school district on Monday in an effort to overturn a new rule requiring teachers to inform parents if their transgender students identify as such or use a name or pronoun other than those listed on their birth certificates.
Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, claimed that the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education’s policy violates the civil rights of LGBTQ children in a complaint that was filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
A statement from Democrat Bonta claimed that the “forced outing policy wrongly endangers the physical, mental, and emotional health of non-conforming pupils who lack a welcoming atmosphere at home and in the classroom.
A spokeswoman for the district, Andi Johnston, said it is “working with its legal counsel to analyze the lawsuit and its contents.” The district, which serves almost 26,000 students, is located 35 miles east of Los Angeles.
After a few school districts in conservative areas of his blue state implemented comparable parental disclosure policies, Bonta filed his first lawsuit.
The move coincides with growing opposition to Republican-led efforts to restrict transgender rights by outlawing gender-affirming medical care and banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports nationwide.
The Chino Valley school board last month established a policy stating that parents must be notified if their child requests to be “identified or treated” as someone other than their “biological sex or gender listed on the student’s birth certificate or any other official records.”
Republican Sonja Shaw, the board’s president, has been vociferous in support of the practice. She appeared on Fox News to defend parents’ “right to be involved in our children’s upbringing.”
Additionally, parents would be notified if a student participated in sex-specific school activities, used a bathroom that was not appropriate for their given sex at birth, or requested that any information in their records be changed.
In the lawsuit filed on Monday, Bonta claimed the policy was unconstitutionally discriminatory against transgender and gender nonconforming kids by singling them out for different and unfavorable treatment, violating their rights to equal protection under the California Constitution.
The lawsuit claims that by requiring school administrators to “out” such children against their will and in violation of state anti-discrimination statutes, the policy also violates their constitutional right to privacy.
The lawsuit aims to have the policy declared illegal and to stop the district from enforcing it.
People of California v. Chino Valley Unified School District, California, San Bernardino County Superior Court, No. Unknown, is the matter at hand.