The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction Friday against a California law that allowed children to hide their transgender status from their parents.
The law required teachers and others to withhold information from parents related to their children identifying as transgender or asking to be called by a different name.
‘The Constitution is clear — parents have the right to know what is happening with their children and make decisions regarding their mental health, and no state law can override that fundamental protection.’
The three-judge panel initially rejected the lawsuit from residents of Huntington Beach but relented after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a similar case on the side of parental rights.
The appeals court recognized that the law would likely violate parents’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
America First Legal, the organization that represents the parents, called the ruling a major victory in a statement on its website.
“California cannot use state law to force schoolteachers and administrators into a conspiracy of silence against parents,” AFL senior counsel Nick Barry said. “California’s law, and similar school policies, use state coercion to intentionally interfere with the parent-child relationship and separate a child from their parent. That is wrong and unlawful.”
AFL added that the state of California “sought to prevent parents from obtaining information about ‘gender transitions’ of their own children without the child’s consent.”
Proponents of these types of laws say they are necessary to protect children who may have feelings that would lead them to identify as transgender from parents who may oppose their wishes. Critics say cutting out parents puts children at risk of grooming and abuse by far-left teachers and other school officials.
“The Constitution is clear — parents have the right to know what is happening with their children and make decisions regarding their mental health, and no state law can override that fundamental protection,” Barry continued.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has not commented on the ruling yet.
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Attorney general rob bonta, California law, Ninth circuit court, Parental rights, Student gender notification, Politics
