San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Garza has ruled to halt a Southern California school district’s requirement for parents to be notified if their children change their gender identification or pronouns at school.
Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District, challenging their policy that mandated schools to inform parents when their children changed their pronouns or used a bathroom corresponding to a different gender than that listed on official paperwork.
Judge Garza’s order temporarily suspends the district’s policy while Bonta’s lawsuit proceeds. The court hearing on this matter is scheduled for October 13.
The Chino Valley Unified School District, serving 27,000 students approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles, is one of several districts in California that require parental notification when children identify as transgender. While some nearby districts have implemented similar policies, at least two others in the state are considering such measures this week.
The debate surrounding these policies centers on the balance between respecting transgender students’ privacy rights and ensuring their well-being, as argued by Attorney General Bonta, and involving parents to provide support for their children, as asserted by Chino Valley Unified.
The outcome of this legal battle could have broader implications for the ongoing national conversation on transgender rights, particularly in the context of state-level attempts to regulate gender-affirming care, transgender participation in sports, and parental notification policies.
In California, the push for parental notification policies gained traction after Republican state lawmaker Bill Essayli proposed a statewide bill on the subject, although it was not heard in Sacramento. Essayli later collaborated with school board members and the California Family Council to formulate the policy eventually adopted by Chino Valley.
While today’s ruling may impact similar proposals in other school districts, it underscores the complex intersection of education, LGBTQ+ rights, and parental involvement, taking place amid heightened political polarization within many school boards across the state.