Political progressives apparently think that school administrators and teachers should have a greater say than parents in the raising and treatment of children experiencing gender dysphoria. How else to explain Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing A.B. 1955, an authoritarian law that forces schools to leave parents in the dark if their child identifies as the opposite sex or presents other issues around sexual identity and orientation.
First, notice the bill’s condescension toward the role of parents in their children’s upbringing. From A.B. 1955 (my emphasis):
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) All pupils deserve to feel safe, supported, and affirmed for who they are at school.(b) Choosing when to “come out” by disclosing an LGBTQ+ identity, and to whom, are deeply personal decisions, impacting health and safety as well as critical relationships, that every LGBTQ+ person has the right to make for themselves.(c) Parents and families across California understand that coming out as LGBTQ+ is an extremely personal decision and want to support their children in coming out to them on their own terms.(d) Parents and families have an important role to play in the lives of young people.
Parents have an “important role in the lives of young people”? No, their role is the most crucial! But the legislators who voted for this bill — and Newsom, who signed it — believe that parents’ role in a child’s upbringing pales in comparison to the role of teachers, school administrators, and counselors.
And apparently kids have the right to raise themselves, at least when it comes to issues of sexuality and gender ideology:
Policies that require outing pupils without their consent violate pupils’ rights to privacy and self-determination.(g) Pupils have a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to sensitive information about them, and courts have affirmed that young people have a right to keep personal information private.
So, a six-year-old has a right to privacy and self determination about his gender dysphoria, which is often accompanied by underlying mental illness and emotional distress? Yup.
Consequently, school districts and facilities may not punish teachers who keep LGBT issues from parents nor enact policies requiring that parents be notified about such issues:
An employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, . . . shall not in any manner retaliate or take adverse action against any employee, including by placing the employee on administrative leave, on the basis that the employee (a) supported a pupil in the exercise of rights set forth in Article 1. . . .
An employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law. . . .
A school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school for the blind or the deaf, or a member of the governing board of a school district or county office of education or a member of the governing body of a charter school, shall not enact or enforce any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that would require an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent, unless otherwise required by state or federal law.
When you think about it, it is kind of a moral kidnapping, isn’t it? Parents should house their kids and buy their clothes, sign them up for music lessons and soccer, etc. But the most important health and welfare decisions that may affect a child’s entire life should be in the hands of schools and are none of the parents’ business?
Newsom’s signing the legislation into law was too much for Elon Musk. Calling it “the last straw,” the world’s richest man put a notice on X (formerly Twitter) that he is moving the headquarters of X and SpaceX to Texas.