California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing Chino Valley Unified School District over the school board's newest policy on mandatory gender identity disclosure.
That policy — which Bonta is calling a "forced outing" — requires schools to tell parents when a student comes out as transgender, uses a different name or changes pronouns.
The lawsuit was announced at a press conference today where Bonta says his office is challenging the policy, arguing that it violates California's Constitution and other state laws that protect civil rights.
"The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home," said Bonta.
In the lawsuit, the state contends that the Chino Valley Unified School board adopted the policy to "create and harbor animosity, discrimination, and prejudice towards transgender and gender-nonconforming students, without any compelling reason to do so, as evidenced by statements made during the Board’s hearing."
In a statement from Terra Russell-Slavin, chief impact officer of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the center applauded Bonta's lawsuit for supporting LBGTQ+ youth.
"What started with the outrageously bigoted ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida has morphed into a monstrous barrage of attacks on our schools, students, and educators — everywhere from Chino Valley to Temecula, North Hollywood to Glendale. This is a gross imposition of religion on the public school system, and a violation of California’s existing laws that protect marginalized people in public institutions," said the statement.
LAist reached out to the Chino Unified School District for comment. They sent this response:
At this time, the District is working with its legal counsel to review the lawsuit and its contents. Prior to the filing, District personnel had been working with complete transparency in providing Attorney General Bonta’s office with requested documents and records. Superintendent Enfield spoke with the DOJ’s legal counsel weekly to confirm the District was providing requested files, which had changed several times from the original subpoena.
Learn more about Chino Valley Unified School District's policy here.
The state's lawsuit comes as other school districts have adopted other similar policies, including in Temecula and Murrieta Valley Unified School District.
Orange Unified School District is the latest school board considering a similar policy. They are expected to vote on the policy on Sept. 7.
