Parental rights advocate hopes to take gender transition notification fight to Supreme Court
‘If a child is choosing to live as the opposite gender at school, then the school needs to contact the parents,’ Karen England says.
A California judge last week blocked Chino Valley Unified School District's newly passed parental notification policy, which required staff to inform parents if a student identified as transgender, but a prominent parental rights advocate doesn’t plan to back down anytime soon.
"This is the parental rights fight of our time," Capitol Resource Institute president Karen England told Fox News Digital.
San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Garza even suggested that some parents posed a "clear and present danger" to LGBTQ students in his ruling against the Southern California school district.
"We are a pro-family public policy organization, and I am one of the co-leaders of the Parental Rights Coalition that has been working to get local school boards to have policies that include parents in them," England said.
A parents rights supporter holds up a sign during Chino Valley Unified School District board meeting at Don Lugo High School in Chino. (Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)
"We helped craft the policy that is sweeping California school boards. And this policy is very, very simple," she continued. "It says if a child is choosing to live as the opposite gender at school, then the school needs to contact the parents and bring them into the loop."
The temporary restraining order from Judge Garza was issued in response to California Attorney General Rob Bonta's lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District over the notification policy. He had objected to the policy, arguing it "unconstitutionally discriminates" against LGBTQ students and violates their privacy rights.
"So it's basically parents and school boards versus Governor [Gavin] Newsom, the Attorney General and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. They all want to keep secrets from parents," England said.
While the policy was blocked in San Bernardino County, England said parents and school boards across the state are fighting to get it put in place.
"Since the state sued, we have five other school districts that have passed that policy which will force the state to go sue all of those school districts and to keep the parents out of the equation… that happened in Chino. We will have a court date October 13, and no matter what the outcome of that policy is, if the court says parents have to stay in the dark, that schools can't tell them -- that will only affect Chino Valley Unified School District," England said.
A California judge last week blocked Chino Valley Unified School District's newly passed parental notification policy, which required staff to inform parents if a student identified as transgender. (David McNew/Getty Images)
"Our hope is that this will continue to spread across the nation and certainly spread across California, and that we have multiple courts hearing multiple different cases on this issue, and we take this to the Supreme Court," she continued. "This is the line in the sand. This is the parental rights fight of our time. And parents of all states… are stepping up to the plate on this one."
England is completely dumbfounded that parents are being kept in the dark.
"Children are socially transitioning at school. So, they're going to school, they're telling the counselor they want to go by a different name. They're telling the math teacher, they're telling the PE teacher they want to play on a different sports team. They're going into the opposite restroom and locker room," she said. "So, what's happening is across the nation, not just California, school districts are hiding that information from parents… Everybody at school knows that the student is living as a different gender. And the only people we're keeping it from is the parents. It's absolutely asinine. It is ridiculous."
Protesters and supporters of a parental notification policy clash outside the Orange Unified school board meeting, September 7, 2023. ((Photo by Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images))
Meanwhile, AG Bonta celebrated the judge's decision.
"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," Bonta said in a press release. "While this fight is far from over, today’s ruling takes a significant step towards ensuring the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of inclusivity."
Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education President Sonja Shaw blasted the judge's decision in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling opponents "government bullies." She also criticized the attorney general for claiming the policy doesn't protect children from being abused.
Fox News Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
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