The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has stepped in to temporarily block a lower court’s ruling allowing teachers to reveal the identities of transgender students to their parents.
A three-judge panel, made up of Democratic appointees, issued a temporary stay of a ruling by Judge Roger Benitez, a Republican.
On Dec. 22, Benitez granted a summary judgment in case brought by two teachers from a middle school in Escondido for requiring them to use gender-specific pronouns and names requested by students while also maintaining the students’ privacy, including their parents.
Benitez equated the rule to teachers not telling their child’s parents about an injury or health event.
“When it comes to a student’s change in gender identity, California state policymakers apparently do not trust parents to do the right thing for their child,” Benitez wrote in his ruling.
Lawyers for the state of California argue that the rule requiring privacy protects transgender students from harassment and discrimination. Benitez noted that the state’s goal to protect students is commendable but excluding parents harms children, parents and teachers.
He also wrote that the policy is a violation of the 14th Amendment right to care for and make health care decisions for their children and the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Paul Jonna, said that Benitez’s ruling “ends California’s dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools” and “protects all California parents, students, and teachers, and it restores sanity and common sense.”
The California Attorney General’s Office filed a motion to stay Benitez’s order.
Equality California issued a statement about the matter on its website and noted that while parents should be involved in their children’s lives, certain conversations should be had within the family at the right time. The statement also called Benitez’s ruling “dangerous.”
“Parents should be involved in their children’s lives, and in the vast majority of cases, parents and families are directly involved in conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity. That is why we passed the SAFETY Act last year — specifically so these important family conversations can happen when families are ready and in ways that strengthen the relationship between parent and child, not as a result of extremist politicians intruding into the parent-child relationship,” said Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California.
“Judge Benitez’s dangerous ruling goes far beyond the SAFETY Act and broadly targets numerous California laws and protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming students — attempting to invalidate critical safeguards that prevent forced outing and allow educators to respect a student’s affirmed name and pronouns at school,” Hoang continued.
