Judge rules California schools cannot hide student gender identity from parents

A federal judge handed a group of parents and teachers a major victory late Monday by ruling the state of California ran afoul of the Constitution with a public school policy to hide students’ gender identity and preferred pronouns from parents.

The lawsuit, brought by teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West in 2023, challenged the legality of a policy that required teachers not to inform parents of a child’s gender transition at school or use different pronouns, saying it forced them to either withhold information from parents or face retaliation. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez sided with the teachers, finding the California public school policy unconstitutionally hides information from parents.