School district may adopt policy to out trans students to their parents

The Chino Valley Unified School District in California is considering a policy that would require teachers to out transgender students, something that would contradict the state’s education policies and could expose closeted students to disapproving and potentially abusive parents.

The proposed policy would require school officials to notify parents and guardians in writing within three days of their child’s request to use a name, gendered pronouns, or bathrooms that don’t match the gender they were assigned at birth.

Related:

School district requires teachers to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents. The state is suing.

The policy equates being LGBTQ+ with drug use and deadly weapons and requires teachers to police queer students.

“This policy is meant to foster trust between district employees, and our students’ parents and guardians,” said District Board President Sonja Shaw in a statement, according to The Sacramento Bee. “I stand for the authority of parents to guide the upbringing of their children and their involvement in decisions related to their education, health, safety, and wellbeing.”

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The policy is supported by several anti-LGBTQ+ groups, including the California Family Council, a group that considers gender-affirming care for trans youth a form of “medical abuse;” the Pacific Justice Institute, which opposes bans on conversion therapy; and Moms for Liberty, a so-called “anti-woke, parents’ rights” group that has recently been labeled as an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, called the district’s proposal “truly sick” and said it “directly, blatantly goes against state law.”

The California Department of Education’s (CDE) website states that “schools must consult with a transgender student to determine who can or will be informed of the student’s transgender status, if anyone, including the student’s family.”

The CDE states that “schools are required to respect the student’s wishes” and adds that in some “very rare circumstances where a school believes there is a specific and compelling ‘need to know,’ the school should inform the student that the school intends to disclose the student’s transgender status [to their parents or guardians], giving the student the opportunity to make that disclosure [themselves].”

In April, the school board met and voted 4-1 to support a now-defunct state bill that would’ve similarly required educators to out trans students to their parents. The bill was introduced by state Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R). After his bill died in a state committee, Essayli said he would encourage to pursue similar school policies at the local level.

One mother at the April school board meeting said, “Our children are struggling with gender identity, we as parents need to know — it is absolutely crucial.”

However, Chino High School valedictorian Daniel Moore said, “Forcing teachers to out trans kids to their parents put them at risk, risk of being disowned, kicked out, and even harmed,” CBS News reported.

School districts in New Jersey and Florida have similar policies requiring educators to out their LGBTQ+ students. Indiana recently signed a similar student-outing policy into law. Republican legislators also passed a similar nationwide bill which has no chance of passing the Democrat-led Senate.

Right-wing groups have said such policies are needed to prevent schools from “secretly” “encouraging” students to change genders without their parents’ knowledge. However, medical experts say that transgender and non-binary youth don’t transition just because their peers and adult figures pressure them to do so.

A 2022 Trevor Project survey revealed that only 32% of trans and nonbinary youths felt that their home was a supportive and gender-affirming environment.