California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill into law Monday that bars schools from informing parents when their child decides to change his or her gender, effectively stripping parents’ rights to know about gender transitions.
The bill, AB 1955, euphemistically called the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act, and sponsored by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego), was also backed by statewide Democratic officials.
As Breitbart News reported in May, the official summary of AB 1955 reads:
This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools, and a member of the governing board or body of those educational entities, from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of those educational entities from being required to make such a disclosure unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or the state special schools, or members of the governing boards or bodies of those educational entities, from retaliating or taking adverse action against an employee on the basis that the employee supported a pupil in the exercise of specified rights, work activities, or providing certain instruction, as provided.
Breitbart News added:
The new bill, AB 1955, is backed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who was booted for disorderly conduct from a school board meeting last year in Chino Valley, California, where the board approved a policy requiring schools to notify parents if children wanted to change genders, overriding Gov. Gavin Newsom’s policy for the State of California as a whole.
The state sued the district over its policy requiring [parental notificaition], which was then blocked by U.S. Judge Roger Benitez, an appointee of President George W. Bush. (Newsom later launched into a blistering attack on Benitez over gun control.)
…
Newsom has also defended his school’s policy as an attempt to prevent “outing” students, whom he claims would be bullied if their new gender identity were known to peers.
Asked directly by Breitbart News last year why parents should not have the right to know about their children’s gender transitions, Newsom dismissed the idea — first claiming that it was not an issue worth discussing, then claiming transgender “kids'” lives were in danger: “The kids just want to live.” He did not explain how or when a child determines his or her sexuality or gender identity.
Conservatives reacted angrily. Harmeet Dhillon, CEO and Founder of the Center for American Liberty, said in a statement:
AB 1955 is an outrageous attempt to keep parents in the dark while schools indoctrinate kids with radical gender ideology. In school districts across California, parents fought back against parental secrecy policies by running for school boards and passing policies that ensure parents are informed about their kids’ education and wellbeing. By signing the bill, Gov. Newsom is transferring power away from our local communities and centralizing it in Sacramento, blatantly undermining our democratic values. AB 1955 is a cowardly response to legal battles over parental notification policies adopted by the Chino Valley Unified School District and other districts that require schools to inform parents when their children request a name or gender change at schools. Our brave clients, Jessica Konen and Aurora Regino, along with Chloe Cole and Layla Jane, have all been harmed by the ideology driving these policies. It’s crucial that we uphold local voices and the integrity of the democratic process in shaping the education of our children.
A recent poll by Rasmussen found that an overwhelming majority of California voters support parental notification policies. However, Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature and are able to ignore the will of the majority of California voters on this issue, which is important to the left-wing LGBTQ+ movement.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
