A conservative legal group is suing California governor Gavin Newsom (D) over legislation that prohibits school districts from requiring that parents be notified about their child’s change in sexuality or gender identity, even when the the child does not grant permission to share the information.
America First Legal filed a lawsuit against Newsom and two other top officials on behalf of a group of plaintiffs from Huntington Beach, Calif., over the controversial parental-notification ban.
Newsom signed the legislation in July, making California the first state to adopt a policy overruling school-board policies that provide parents with transparency regarding their child’s perceived gender transition.
A longtime supporter of pro-LGBT policies, Newsom took a stance on the legislation that put him in the middle of a heated national debates on “gender transition” procedures for minors and the power of parents to determine educational policies. In local school-board elections and national races, republicans have adopted parental rights as central to the party’s platform.
In some cases, people who were rushed into receiving transgender medical interventions later came to regrets those operations; they have become known as “detransitioners.” Most major American medical organizations wholeheartedly support transgender operations on minors, despite the limited evidence of their effectiveness. Many European nations have scaled back their support for such operations because of the lack of evidence that they improve well-being and health outcomes.
After receiving a flood of conservative criticism for the legislation, Newsom’s office responded by asserting that the bill does not take away parental rights or allow schools to update official records without parental knowledge.
“The State of California is now using state law to force schools to hide a child’s desire to ‘gender transition’ from parents. This is outrageous,” said America First Legal executive director Gene Hamilton
“Parents — not the government or any school system — have the utmost right to raise their children and protect their children from this dangerous ideology. We are proud to represent these courageous parents and the City of Huntington Beach in this righteous fight against tyranny.”