Our Schools USA Featured in Blade Article Regarding Judge TRO Ruling in Outing Policy Case

LA Blade (9/6/23): San Bernardino judge blocks Chino schools forced outing policy

“Today, the courts confirmed what we knew to be true — this hateful policy poses real safety risks to vulnerable students”

September 6, 2023

By Brody Levesque

 SAN BERNANDINO, Calif. – Today was the first hearing in California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuit against Chino Valley Unified School District challenging gender notification policy after which Superior Court Judge Tom Garza granted the state’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt the policy.

Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education’s (Board) mandatory gender identity disclosure policy, initially adopted in July, requires school staff and administrators to inform parents, with minimal exceptions, whenever a student requests to use a name or pronoun different from that on their birth certificate or official records, even without the student’s permission and even when officials are aware that a trans or queer student may be harmed emotionally or physically by the disclosure.

“San Bernardino Superior Court’s decision to issue a temporary restraining order rightfully upholds the state rights of our LGBTQ+ student community and protects kids from harm by immediately halting the board’s forced outing policy,” said Attorney General Bonta. “While this fight is far from over, today’s ruling takes a significant step towards ensuring the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming students. As we continue challenging the policy in court, my office will continue providing our unwavering support to ensure every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity.”

In the lawsuit, the state argues that the policy infringes on several state protections safeguarding students’ civil and constitutional rights. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that the board’s policy has already placed transgender and gender-nonconforming students in danger of imminent, irreparable harm from the consequences of forced disclosures. These students are currently under threat of being outed to their parents against their will, and many fear that the District’s policy will force them to make a choice: either “walk back” their constitutionally and statutorily protected rights to gender identity and gender expression, or face the risk of emotional, physical, and psychological harm.

In the filing the state also points out that the board’s policy thus unlawfully singles out and discriminates against transgender and gender nonbinary students, subjecting them to disparate treatment and harassment, including mental, emotional, and even physical abuse.

In an email to the Blade, the Indianapolis-based Rainbow Youth Project, which had assisted the Attorney General’s staff with collaborative documents and statements from students and families affected by the policy, issued a statement:

“We are proud to collaborate with California Attorney General Rob Bonta in our ongoing efforts to protect the rights and well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals in California schools,” stated Lance Preston, Executive Director at Rainbow Youth Project USA. “By assisting his office in securing the restraining order against the Chino Valley Unified School District, we have sent a clear message that forced outing policies have no place in our educational institutions. We will continue to work diligently to ensure that all students feel safe and supported at school and in their communities.”

The lead group that is combatting the policy on the ground in Chino, Our Schools USA, reacted to Garza’s ruling :

“Today, the courts confirmed what we knew to be true — this hateful policy poses real safety risks to vulnerable students. Our Schools USA is proud to have supported our local chapter of parents in standing up to a hateful policy that deprives educational opportunities for students,” spokesperson Kristi Hirst told the Blade.

Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education President Sonja Shaw, has been a leading opponent of LGBTQ+ visibility and rights in the district’s schools. During LGBTQ+ Pride month this past June, she led the board in a 4-1 vote to ban LGBTQ+ pride flags in all district classrooms. After the vote in what was best described as a contentious and heated meeting, Shaw addressed the audience saying: “If a teacher has to fly a flag in the classroom to show a kid this is safe space, that is a teacher problem.” That comment brought immediate angered shouts from those gathered in the room.

The current fight over the ‘Outing policy’ culminated in a 4-1 vote by the board this past July to involuntarily Out trans students to parents or guardians in a new parental notification policy after another contentious and heated school board meeting.

During that meeting Shaw battled and then belittled California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, who personally attended and addressed the board.

Thurmond’s presence created a stir with Shaw, who cut the Superintendent’s mic off after he went past the minute speaking time allotted for the public comments section.

Addressing the board, Thurmond cautioned the policy may “not only fall outside of the laws that respect privacy and safety for our students, but may put our students at risk because they may not be in homes where they can be safe.”

As Thurmond attempted to finish his remarks, Shaw repeatedly talked over him saying “time.” At this point a number of students and others opposed to the policy began cheering which caused Shaw to reprimand those audience members saying: “Guys, be respectful.”

Then Shaw turned her attention back to the Superintendent.

“I am going to do a point of order, which I learned from a previous board president,” She continued. “Tony Thurman, I appreciate you being here, tremendously. But here’s the problem. We’re here because of people like you.”

“You’re in Sacramento, proposing things that pervert children,” Shaw shouted, as the students continued to cheer Thurmond. She then ordered Chino Police officers to escort the Superintendent from the room.

Prior to filing a lawsuit, Bonta announced opening a civil rights investigation into the legality of the board’s adoption of its mandatory gender identity disclosure policy. Prior to opening the investigation, the Attorney General sent a letter in July to Superintendent Norman Enfield and the Board of Education cautioning them of the dangers of adopting its forced outing policy, emphasizing the potential infringements on students’ privacy rights and educational opportunities.

Recently, Attorney General Bonta issued a statement following Anderson Union High School District, and Temecula and Murrieta Valley Unified School District Boards’ decisions to implement copy-cat mandatory gender identity disclosure policy targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming students.

Chino Valley Unified School District nor Board of Education President Sonja Shaw responded to a request for comment.