Two Christian school teachers in California were reinstated by a federal judge after being placed on administrative leave for opposing the district’s policy of not informing parents when a child opted to change their gender identity in class.
The educators, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, sued the California board of education on the grounds that “deceiving” a child’s guardian violated their religious beliefs.
Judge Robert Benitez ruled in favor of the teachers, noting that the district’s policy of hiding gender-identity changes from parents violated the Fourteenth Amendment. “It harms plaintiffs who are compelled to violate the parent’s rights by forcing plaintiffs to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students,” the justice wrote in his ruling.
A presentation given to the educators in February 2023 instructed teachers to uncritically accept a “student’s assertion of their gender identity and begin to treat the student immediately, consistently with that gender identity.”
“The student’s assertion is enough,” read a transcript of the presentation obtained by Fox News Digital. “There is no need for a formal declaration. There’s no requirement for parent or caretaker agreement or even for knowledge for us to begin treating that student consistent with their gender identity.” The presentation also reportedly warned teachers that failure to go along with a student’s wishes could be discriminatory and constitute a violation of district policies.
The teachers had originally been granted religious accommodations for using personal pronouns, but were forced to abide by the district’s policy of not notifying parents of pronoun or gender identification changes.
Last August, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Chino Valley School District after it passed a new policy requiring educators to inform parents when a child identified as transgender.
“The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home,” California attorney general d, said in a statement at the time. “Our message to Chino Valley Unified and all school districts in California is loud and clear: We will never stop fighting for the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students.”
Sonja Shaw, the district’s school board president, condemned Bonta’s lawsuit in comments to the Washington Free Beacon. “Once again, this is government overreach and the political cartel of Bonta, [Gov. Gavin] Newsom, and [State Superintendent Tony] Thurmond is using their muscle and taxpayer dollars to shut parents out of their children’s lives.”
In July, the Chino school board required schools to notify parents if their child experiences gender confusion, requests a pronoun change, or begins using sex-segregated facilities conflicting with the child’s sex. Bonta said at the time that the policy would “strip [students] of their freedom, violate their autonomy, and potentially put them in a harmful situation.”
Students are “currently under threat of being outed to their parents or guardians against their express wishes and will,” which the lawsuit alleges “violates the California Constitution and state laws safeguarding civil rights.” The state announced earlier this month that it would investigate possible infringements on students’ civil rights in Chino Valley, as well as in surrounding districts that have adopted similar policies.
Last Thursday, Bonta released an official note that schools requiring “forced discloure[s]” of a student’s gender identity violated state law. “Some districts’ policies require such disclosures even when revealing the student’s gender identity or gender nonconformity to their parents could put them at risk of physical, emotional, or psychological harm,” the California AG wrote.