All over California transgender students are facing mounting challenges, sparking concern among LGBTQ+ civil rights advocates. While California has long been regarded as a progressive state when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, six California school districts recently enacted policies requiring schools to notify parents if a student uses a name or pronoun that doesn’t correspond to their biological gender or requests access to opposite-sex sports teams, restrooms and locker rooms. Some school districts will inform parents if a student simply discusses these matters with a school employee.
Some Redwood faculty members, including Spanish teacher Maria Fernanda Civano, feel distressed by these new parental notification policies.
“[The policies are] such a lack of understanding and another way of making our trans and gender-free kids go back in the closet,” Civano said.
California’s attorney general Rob Bonta responded quickly to the newly enacted policies, suing southern California Chino Valley Unified school district on Sept. 4. In the lawsuit, Bonta argued the parental notification policy infringes on students’ civil and constitutional rights, including the right to a public school education and the right to privacy. He described it as a “forced outing” of transgender and gender nonconforming students.
Redwood Wellness Outreach Specialist Magdalena Maguire agrees with Bonta’s assertions.
“Not only does [this new policy] create a hostile environment for students who might be figuring out their gender, but it necessitates them being outed to their friends, family and community when they might not be ready,” said Maguire.
Two days after Bonta sued Chino Valley, Judge Thomas Garza issued a temporary restraining order against the district, halting the new policy until the lawsuit is settled in court. Although the judge’s order signaled he was likely to rule against Chino Valley, the Orange Unified school district passed a similar policy the following day. Meanwhile, two northern California school districts, Rocklin Unified School District and Anderson Union High School District, already passed nearly identical notification policies.
Historically, California has been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ rights. In 2014, the state enacted a law granting gender nonconforming students access to restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The law also allows them to participate in sports and activities aligning with their chosen gender identity. On Sept. 24, Governor Newsom signed an additional law strengthening the 2014 legislation by explicitly requiring California schools to provide gender-neutral bathrooms for transgender students.
While the prior law has been in place for nearly a decade, today’s challenges underscore the persistent tensions between protecting transgender students’ rights and addressing concerns of parents who disagree with the policies. School districts challenging state law argue parents have the right to know this information about their children. Maguire is sympathetic with parents’ concerns to a degree.
“In an ideal world you’d talk to your parents about your gender identity, your parents would support you, you’d try it out at home and then you’d try it out at school,” said Maguire. “But if that’s not the environment you live in, then mandating the school report this to the parents feels like a lack of confidentiality.”
The consequences of these new policies are significant. Transgender students are disproportionately more vulnerable to discrimination, harassment and violence according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Even at Redwood, students experience discrimination because of gender status.
“You have people [at Redwood] who have used language that is absolutely inappropriate and hurtful,” Civano said.
Maguire noted microaggressions occur regularly at Redwood, mentioning how often students do not respect the use of different pronouns.
“It’s hard to be a queer student in America, in Marin County and in this high school,” said Maguire.
The next court hearing on the Chino Valley policy is scheduled for Oct. 13.
