California AG warns schools that outing transgender students violates state law

California’s Attorney General cautioned school districts across the state that policies requiring employees to report transgender students to their parents violated the state’s constitution. Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a legal alert on Thursday that said the policies adopted by several Golden State school districts are unconstitutional and “detrimental” to the privacy, safety and well being of transgender and gender nonconforming students.

“We know what the data tells us — that 15% of transgender, gender non conforming young people are kicked out of their home,” Attorney General Rob Bonta told KCAL last week after the warning was issued Thursday. “Another 10% are harmed physically by members of their direct family,” he added.

Bonta’s warning came amid an ongoing battle between the attorney general and the Chino Valley School District, which issued the policy in July after a 4 1 vote from the school board. The policy mandates that staff members must notify parents if their children ask to go by a different name or pronouns; whether they ask to use bathrooms or participate in activities not aligned with their birth gender.

The Chino Valley district requires the students to be reported even if they haven’t given staff permission to disclose the information. Bonta has insisted the policy discriminates against trans students and puts them in danger. Chino Valley School Board President Sonja Shaw, a vocal supporter of the bill, has accused the attorney general of being “obsessed with power.” “He’s showing that he wants to be the parent of our children and he’s not doing his real job, which is keeping California safe,” Shaw told KCAL.

“What is he doing to make them safe at campus by keeping parents out? It absolutely makes no sense.” In his warning last week, Bonta’s office said the outing policies “target transgender and gender nonconforming students,” before highlighting three separate ways it violated the California constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, according to the Sacramento Bee.

“Because gender identity is an aspect of gender, transgender or gender nonconforming individuals constitute a protected class under California’s equal protection clause,” the notification read. Other violations included prohibitions against gender discrimination, pointing out how the “forced outing policies target one group, and ‘that group alone’ for discriminatory treatment,” along with violations of the students’ right to privacy.

“In sum, by singling out transgender and gender nonconforming students for different, adverse treatment that puts them at risk of harm, forced disclosure policies violate their constitutional right to equal protection and privacy, as well as their statutory protection from discrimination under California law,” the warning read.

Bonto’s office previously sued the school district to block the policy in August, which he called “hateful,” citing a fiery July 20 Board of Education hearing in which trans students were described as “perverse” and having “mental illness.” Shaw has doubled down on the policy, characterizing it as a battle for parents’ rights against invasive liberal politicians who want to strip them away.

“The political cartel has continued to show their cards and I think we just need to stand with our constitutional rights and we need to make sure we protect our kids together,” she said on Thursday..