A mother’s tears of worry and frustration over her 17-year-old daughter’s secret social gender transition at school tell the story of what many parents are facing in California schools.
“I cry every day, not only for my daughter but for the parents that are now contacting me about their kids,” one Los Angeles County mom told The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity to protect her daughter’s identity.
Lena is one of several parents representing nine families that joined a lawsuit filed by the City of Huntington Beach against state officials over a new law that bans parental notification policies, effectively prohibiting school staff from revealing social gender transitions of students to their parents without the child’s consent.
California is the only state to enact such a law.
Unbeknown to her parents, Hannah began secretly identifying as “trans” in 2020, when she was 13, after spending a lot of time on social media platforms.
She was homeschooled until the ninth grade when she attended public high school and is now in her senior year.
In 2021, as Lena was cleaning her daughter’s bedroom, she was shocked to find a sketchbook that contained Hannah’s drawings depicting self-mutilation, suicide ideation, and the bloody aftermath of gender transition surgeries.
“I’m going through her books, and I see very disturbing pictures of her bloody body cut up, saying, ‘I need to come out. I need to pick a name, and I need to tell my parents I’m trans. I want to be on testosterone. I want top surgery,’” Lena said.
She knew something was seriously wrong, and wanted to talk with Hannah but said it took a few weeks to find the right words and broach the sensitive subject.
“I told her what I found and that we love her, and we don’t care what sexual orientation she is as she grows into herself, but she’s not trans,” Lena said.
Lena told her daughter she is female down to her DNA chromosomes and that she and her husband will only call her by her birth name, she said.
After the talk, Hannah agreed to not use the male name—only her birth name—at school, but at the end of the school year when students’ work was showcased online for parents to see, Lena noticed a male name on a biology assignment.
A girl who socially transitioned to a male identity at school without her family’s knowledge stands in Chico, Calif., on March 12, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
At the start of the academic year, school staff had asked Hannah for her preferred name and pronouns and began socially transitioning her to a male name and identity, Lena said.
According to the complaint, the principal allegedly pulled Hannah aside for a meeting to tell her that school staff were not allowed to tell her parents about the social transition.
As she entered tenth grade in 2022, teachers and administrators continued referring to Hannah by a male name, and Lena was repeatedly denied meetings with the school principal to discuss the situation, so Lena began speaking out at school board meetings. By the end of the school year, the school district agreed to inform Lena if her daughter ever resumed using a male name.
The next year, Hannah again used a masculine name, prompting the principal to arrange a meeting with Lena. Then, after repeated communications from Lena’s attorney and a written statement signed by Hannah agreeing to use her legal name and female pronouns, the school agreed to stop calling Hannah by a male name and pronouns, Lena said.
“If I had known that they socially transition kids at school behind parents back, I would have never put her in public school,” Lena said. “I will never give up on her or any child. … She is my child—not the school’s, the state’s, or this country’s.”
Public Pushback
Assembly Bill (AB) 1955, also known as the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act, which is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025, bans “parental notification policies,” which have been enacted by more than a dozen California school districts.
Assembly Bill (AB) 1955, that California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law, is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025, effectively baning “parental notification policies.” Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Musk vowed to move the headquarters of his companies SpaceX and social media platform X out of state to Texas.
In the Huntington Beach and parents’ case against Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and State Superintendent of Public Schools Tony Thurmond, Lena is referred to as “1A” and Hannah is called “1C.”
Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark told The Epoch Times the city—which declared itself a “Parents’ Right to Know” city in September—decided to sue the state to assist parents who want to overturn the state law.
“We have no jurisdiction over schools, but we represent everyone in the City of Huntington Beach, including the parents,” Van Der Mark said.
Van Der Mark, who was elected to the city council in 2022, stated that her entry into politics was motivated by the need to defend parental rights. She recounted instances where parents shared concerns about their children being exposed to inappropriate material in schools, prompting discussions on sensitive topics like sex and gender before they were emotionally ready. Van Der Mark criticized the increasing trend of schools initiating such conversations with children at younger ages, emphasizing that it is the prerogative of parents to address these issues. She lamented that the state is encroaching on parental authority, which, she believes, should be protected by law. The concern, she emphasized, is to safeguard children from making irreversible decisions such as body mutilation. Van Der Mark also pointed out the unfair burden placed on teachers without the necessary training to handle complex issues like gender dysphoria, which she views as a form of medical intervention that should involve parental consent. A senior official from the Newsom administration confirmed that parents have the right to access their students’ educational records. The official emphasized that the new law does not allow for “forced outings,” ensures that parents are involved in conversations about identity, requires parental consent for any changes to a student’s name or gender identity on school records, and does not undermine parental rights. The law also prohibits teachers and school districts from hiding information from parents and protects teachers and staff from being forced to disclose a student’s LGBTQ+ identity without consent. The ruling in the case harms teachers who are forced to conceal information from parents, violating their religious beliefs. Paul Jonna, the lead attorney in the case, criticized the state government for not rescinding policies preventing school districts from passing notification policies. He believes that the state is acting unconstitutionally and expects more litigation over AB 1955.
Erin Friday, an attorney and co-leader of Our Duty, opposes gender-related medical interventions on minors. She believes that parental notification policies should focus on children distressed over their natural bodies, not sexual orientation. Friday argues that parents have a fundamental right to know if their child is suffering from gender dysphoria and that involving parents is the least harmful path for gender dysphoric children.
She also raises concerns about schools creating shadow files to deceive parents, as seen in her own daughter’s case. Friday claims that schools are advised to create fake files to avoid providing student information to parents, which she believes is intentional. Please rewrite this sentence. Please rewrite this sentence. Please rewrite this sentence for me.
Source link
