Judge Blocks Gender Confidentiality for Minors in CA Schools, Court Appeals

US District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez issued a class-wide permanent injunction last Monday, blocking a California policy that required teachers to withhold minors' gender identities from their parents. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily appealed the ruling on Friday.

The Details: The injunction, "Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al.," was spearheaded by the Thomas More Society and sparked by teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, who reportedly viewed withholding information from students' parents as unconstitutional and immoral. The appeal, which the circuit court said was to "preserve the status quo" pending a future ruling, effectively granted Attorney General Rob Bonta's request for a stay.

Key Quotes: The Thomas More Society stated, "Under California's Parental Exclusion Policies, children had an unqualified right to engage in a social transition to the opposite gender at school—forcing all teachers to use opposite-sex pronouns and a new name—and teachers were required to conceal that gender transition from the child's parents absent the child's affirmative consent. This placed Elizabeth and Lori in an impossible position: lie to parents in violation of their faith and ethics, or risk retaliation and ultimately, their jobs." The society noted the district court's statement, "California's education policymakers may be experts on primary and secondary education but they would not receive top grades as students of Constitutional Law." A representative from Bonta's office said, "The unfortunate reality is that some children will encounter rejection, abandonment, or abuse if they reveal their gender identity at home."

How The Media Covered It: Outlets on the right of the political spectrum, such as CBN (Right bias), more prominently highlighted the injunction, while outlets on the left, such as San Francisco Chronicle (Left), more prominently highlighted the temporary stay. Outlets on the right often used the language of the Thomas More Society, referring to the policies as "secrecy," while outlets on the left tended to avoid the word. Newsweek (Center) emphasized that the injunction "directly conflicts with California's Safety Act (AB 1955), signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) in 2024, which banned schools from disclosing students' gender identity or pronouns to parents without the students' consent."

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