Huntington Beach, California, is suing the state over a law designed to increase protections for trans children, making it so teachers are not required to notify parents if their child is going by a different name or using different pronouns at school.
The lawsuit says that the law, A.B. 1955, does not have the force of law, and says that schools were directed to create a “covert, parallel records-filing system” to hide students’ name changes, “in order to skirt parents’ requests for pupil records or education records to which they are entitled under California Education Code and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.”
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The law has received praise from LGBTQ+ advocates for keeping teachers from having to out trans students to their parents, but many conservatives oppose it. The Republican mayor of Huntington Beach, Gracey Van Der Mark, said in a statementthat the law “seeks to compel educators to keep secret from parents sensitive, private, and often life-saving information related to their child’s gender issues and/or expression. “
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“The State’s A.B. 1955 law compelling secrecy not only puts children at risk, it is also an unconstitutional invasion of the parent/child relationship by the State. To that end, the City of Huntington Beach is challenging the State on federal claims in federal court with the filing of this lawsuit,” it says.
The statement says that America First Legal Foundation has joined the lawsuit and is paying for all legal expenses. America First Legal is a far-right public interest group that has oftenopposed pro-LGBTQ+ legislation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), state Attorney General Rob Banta, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond are named as defendants in the case.
San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael Sachs ruled in favor of the bill earlier this month in a lawsuit brought by Chino Valley Unified School District. In his 50-page ruling, he wrote, “There is no forced secrecy in this case; parents are still free to have conversations with their child about gender identity; and parents have the right to observe a classroom, talk to a teacher, and review educational records.”
Judge Sachs noted that children do not have an inherent right to privacy, so he could not mandate that school districts don’t tell parents of their child’s gender identity. Still, Sachs upheld the law by arguing against the proposed restrictions to be placed on it by Chino Valley Unified.
“This critical legislation strengthens protections for LGBTQ+ youth against forced outing policies, provides resources for parents and families of LGBTQ+ students to support them as they have conversations on their terms, and creates critical safeguards to prevent retaliation against teachers and school staff who foster a safe and supportive school environment for all students,” Tony Hoang, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, said in a statement, as reported by The Hill.
