Federal judge prohibits Gavin Newsom's trans-related grooming policies in California schools

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: A federal judge in California has delivered a ruling related to how schools handle policies about transgender students.

District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez issued a permanent injunction against trans‑related grooming policies.

Benitez injunction prohibits educators from hiding students’ gender identity or 'social transition' from parents.

Judge Roger Benitez’s ruling on trans grooming efforts

Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies in California had prevented parents from being fully informed about their children’s mental health and personal issues, particularly regarding gender identity and associated school support programs.

Two Christian educators, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, filed a lawsuit in 2023 with assistance from the religious liberty group, the 'Thomas More Society.'

Their legal challenge initially targeted secretive school policies and later expanded into a class‑action lawsuit involving other teachers and parents affected by those policies.

Benitez’s 52‑page ruling sided with the plaintiffs and opposed the grooming practices.

He emphasized long before the advent of compulsory education in the US, 'parents have carried out their rights and responsibility to direct the general and medical care and religious upbringing of their child.'

"It is a right and a responsibility that parents still hold," said the judge.

Benitez affirmed that, 'parents have a right to receive gender information, and teachers have a right to provide parents with accurate information about a child’s gender identity,' rights he confirmed were violated by California officials.

Judge Roger Benitez’s on parental and educator rights

According to Benitez, "The parental exclusion policies create a trifecta of harm."

He said, "They harm the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse."

Benitez continued, "They harm the parents by depriving them of the long-recognized Fourteenth Amendment right to care, guide, and make healthcare decisions for their children."

He further highlighted the harm to educators, "And finally, they harm teachers who are compelled to violate the sincerely held beliefs and the parent’s rights by forcing them to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students."

Benitez also barred California Attorney General Rob Bonta, California Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and members of the California Board of Education from implementing or enforcing any laws or policies that violate parental rights.

He stated that no employee in the state education system may be required to 'mislead the parent or guardian of a minor student about their child's gender presentation at school through direct lies.' 

This includes denial of access to educational records or 'using a different set of preferred pronouns/names when speaking with the parents than is being used at school.'

Additionally, educators cannot 'use a name or pronoun to refer to that child that do not match the child's legal name and natal pronouns, where a child’s parent or legal guardian has communicated their objection to such use.'

They also cannot use incorrect pronouns or a false name in reference to a student 'while concealing that social gender transition from the child’s parents.'

Paul Jonna, special counsel at the 'Thomas More Society', stated, "Today's incredible victory finally, and permanently, ends California's dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools."