Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Monday that prohibits mandating that teachers notify families about student gender identity changes, capping a yearlong battle between conservative school boards concerned about parental rights and LGBTQ+ activists worried about vulnerable youths.
The new law shields teachers from retaliation for supporting transgender student rights and prohibits K-12 “forced disclosure” rules. It comes in response to school board decisions in some red pockets of California to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns, or if students request to use facilities or participate in programs that don’t match their gender on official records.
The bill would also require the California Department of Education to offer resources to parents and students about how to “manage conversations about gender and identity privately.”
Attempts at gender notification policies, including in school districts in Chino Valley and Temecula, have triggered lawsuits over student privacy rights and have drawn the ire of California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who said they could cause “imminent, irreparable harm” to LGBTQ+ young people who may not feel safe coming out at home.
Since 2020, eight states, including Indiana and Tennessee, have passed school gender notification policies, according to the Movement Advancement Project. California is the first to outlaw such policies at the local level.
The Democratic-controlled state Legislature passed AB 1955 last month after a fiery debate LGBTQ+ Democrats had with Republicans who alleged the policy aimed to drive a wedge between parents and their children and was a governmental overstep.
Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), who authored the bill, said that teachers are not meant to be “the gender police” and that the new law does not intrude on the parent-child relationship.
“Politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary, and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California,” Ward said in a statement. “As a parent, I urge all parents to talk to their children, listen to them, and love them unconditionally for who they are.”
One of the opponents of the legislation said it stripped authority from locally elected school officials and took away the ability of parents to stay informed about their kid’s education and well-being.
“AB 1955 is an outrageous attempt to keep parents in the dark while schools indoctrinate kids with radical gender ideology,” said Harmeet Dhillon, chief executive and founder of the Center for American Liberty.
This is not the first time that Newsom has waded into local school affairs.
Last year, he signed a law that fines school districts that ban textbooks portraying LGBTQ+ people and other historically marginalized groups. The legislation came after Newsom went head to head with a conservative school board in Riverside County over opposition to lessons portraying gay rights icon and slain San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.