On December 22, federal judge Roger T. Benitez ruled that California teachers must accurately inform parents of their children’s gender identity and sexuality.
Public school teachers Elizabeth Morelli and Lori Ann West, the plaintiffs, filed the case in mid-2023 due to opposing views on school policy. The Roman Catholic teachers believe these polices are harming not only themselves and the parents’ constitutional rights (the First and Fourteenth amendments,) but also the right to student information for religious and medical purposes. The case report from Benitez states that “parents have a right to receive gender information, and teachers have a right to provide to parents accurate information about a child’s gender identity.”
Although religious and medical purposes sound reasonable, the State Defendants’ policies protect potential LGBTQ+ students from bullying and harassment by students and even school employees.
“The State Defendants explain that these policies are needed to prevent bullying and harassment. Preventing student bullying and harassment in school is a laudable goal.” The report continues with “Even in the best-case scenarios when a youth comes out to their family as transgender or nonbinary and their family is loving and accepting, the life of a transgender youth is often very difficult. The harassment and bullying they receive at school from peers and even at times from staff can be incredibly harmful.
The latter quote gleans a truth that continues in the community. Even last year, there were stories such as parents opting out of LGBTQ+ books in schools and the Colorado GOP urging parents to take their children out of school out of concern for “LGBTQ+ indoctrination.” Unfortunately, there is disdain from opposing parties toward the LGBTQ+ community, and that’s why those policies are in place. In the best-case scenario, the school and parents are working together for the student, not to piece together their identity. Everyone works together by maintaining constant productive (not destructive) communication, educating each other about one another’s community and identity, and accepting differences while living in tandem equally. The human condition elicits differences in everyone that help find commonalities to gather. Unfortunately, this is in a “best-case scenario.”
In fact, the plaintiffs interpret the defendant’s policies as “the parents who will be the harassers from whom students need to be protected.” The report continues with the importance of parental guidance and mental health intervention to help with the potential gender dysphoria LGBTQ+ students may be experiencing, which would have good intentions, except the aftermath is not just “mental health intervention” or “parental guidance.” It would be the parents’ finding out, then going to a doctor, then a therapeutic counselor, and finally a neurologist. This is a story of a parent hypothesizing what they would do if they found out their child’s new gender identity in the same report. Unless the child seeks or asks for help in this manner, or the parents are going to educate themselves, this way of thinking suggests the child needs to be “fixed.” Going to one person, then another, and another to get an opinion instead of discussing the child’s future one-on-one is insane. But, unfortunately, it’s our reality: many put up walls, or these policies, instead of using sympathy to communicate with our community. Education and gender identity are not mutually exclusive.
The one silver lining is that Independent wrote that California quickly appealed the ruling, considering whether it should be a “long-term stay.”
“Outing transgender students to their parents before they are ready threatens severe mental and emotional anguish, depression, and in extreme cases, even suicide.”
Although the California teachers still have to communicate very personal details of students to parents, at least there is still discussion, and this isn’t completely resolved. Let’s carry this discussion into 2026.
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