California bans school rules requiring parents to be notified of child’s pronoun change

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has signed a law banning school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents if their child asks to be identified as a different gender than the one appearing on the birth certificate.

The controversial law bars school districts from passing or enforcing policies requiring staff to disclose information related to a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity , or gender expression without the student’s consent.

“This law helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents,” Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Newsom, said in a statement. “It protects the child-parent relationship by preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when, and how families have deeply personal conversations.”

Several California school districts had adopted policies requiring parental notification for a child’s gender identity changes, a practice opponents describe as “forced outing.”

“Politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary, and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California,” Democratic Assemblyman Chris Ward, who authored the legislation, said in a statement. “While some school districts have adopted policies to forcibly out students, the SAFETY Act ensures that discussions about gender identity remain a private matter within the family.”

But opponents of the law argue that schools have a duty to be transparent.

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“Parents are not the enemy — they are critical to a child's growth and well-being, and they have a constitutional right to be involved in their education," Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher told Courthouse News. "This new law says loud and clear that Newsom thinks politicians and school administrators trump parents when it comes to what's best for kids."

A proposed ballot measure to create a statewide parental notification policy failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.