OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today led 16 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of Chico Unified School District (CUSD) and its local school district policy safeguarding the privacy and safety of transgender and gender-nonconforming students. The plaintiff in Regino v. Stanley et al., a parent with children attending school in CUSD, filed a lawsuit challenging CUSD’s Administrative Regulation 5145.3, which limits school staff from unnecessarily disclosing a student’s transgender or gender-nonconforming status without the student’s consent, except when there is a specific and compelling need to protect the student’s physical or mental well-being. A federal district court granted CUSD’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims, and the plaintiff appealed the ruling. In today’s coalition, Attorney General Bonta asserts that the Ninth Circuit should affirm the district court’s decision to dismiss the plaintiff’s challenge to CUSD’s policy, and stresses California’s commitment to ensuring a safe and supportive school environment for all students, including transgender and gender-nonconforming students, by preventing them from being “outed” in situations where they might suffer psychological, emotional, or physical harm.
“While some school districts enact policies that forcibly out transgender and gender-nonconforming students against their will, Chico Unified has sought to safeguard the safety of all students by involving family whenever possible, but honoring the express wishes of students to avoid putting them at risk,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s amicus brief underscores our support as we continue standing up against any action that targets and compromises the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our most vulnerable populations. We urge the Ninth Circuit to uphold the district court’s decision to ensure a learning environment of inclusivity, acceptance, and safety for all Chico Unified students.”
In the amicus brief, the coalition asserts:
- CUSD's policy—and similar longstanding policies enacted across the states—have crafted a careful balance, consistent with substantive due process, to support transgender and gender-nonconforming students and their families by involving families wherever possible, while honoring and encouraging students' ability to initiate gender identity conversations with their family in the time and manner of their own choosing.
- Transgender and gender-nonconforming students are vulnerable to abuse, suicide, and other forms of mental and physical harm, because of the very real risk of familial rejection and the lack of access to gender-affirming environments.
- States have an interest in making schools a safe and supportive environment for all youth, and all students benefit from safe and supportive schools.
- Policies like CUSD’s help ensure a safe and supportive school environment for all students, including transgender and gender-nonconforming students, as protecting student privacy and trust increases their academic success and lowers students' risk of missing school, dropping out, or committing suicide.
- Plaintiff’s interpretation of the constitution is unsupported and would severely undermine schools’ ability to protect transgender and gender-nonconforming students, and the appellate court should uphold the district court's decision to dismiss the plaintiff’s challenge to CUSD’s Policy.
Attorney General Bonta has a substantial interest in protecting the legal rights, physical safety, and mental health of children in California schools, and in protecting them from trauma, harassment, bullying, and exposure to violence and threats of violence. Research shows that protecting a transgender student’s ability to make choices about how and when to inform others is critical to their well-being, as transgender students are exposed to high levels of harassment and mistreatment at school and in their communities.
- In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 10% of respondents said that an immediate family member had been violent toward them because they were transgender, and 15% ran away from home or were kicked out of their home because they were transgender. And fewer than one-in-three transgender and gender nonbinary youth found their home to be gender-affirming.
- Seventy-seven percent of students known or perceived as transgender reported negative experiences such as harassment and assault, and over half of transgender and nonbinary youth reported seriously considering suicide in the past year.
- Nearly 46% of transgender students reported missing at least one day of school in the preceding month because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable there and 17% of transgender students reported that they left a K-12 school due to the severity of the harassment they experienced at school.
Attorney General Bonta is committed to defending the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ youth:
- In December, Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief supporting a challenge by teachers, students, and parents to two Temecula Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees’ enactments that violate students’ constitutional and statutory rights.
- In October, Attorney General Bonta secured a ruling from the San Bernardino Superior Court enjoining Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education’s mandatory gender identity disclosure policy. The court held that such disclosure policies are likely to violate transgender and gender-nonconforming students’ right to equal protection under the California Constitution and can result in irreparable harm to those students. Attorney General Bonta had previously secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the policy. The Superior Court’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General challenging the enforcement of CVUSD’s forced outing policy. Prior to filing the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta opened a civil rights investigation into the legality of the CVUSD’s adoption of the policy. Prior to opening the investigation, Attorney General Bonta in July sent a letter to Superintendent Norman Enfield and the Board of Education cautioning them of the dangers of adopting the forced outing policy and explaining that the policy potentially infringed on students' privacy rights and educational opportunities.
- Attorney General Bonta has issued statements following Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District, Rocklin Unified School District, Anderson Union High School District, and Temecula Valley and Murrieta Valley Unified School District Boards’ decision to implement copy-cat mandatory gender identity disclosure policies targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
- In October, Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition in support of a Maryland board of education’s policy that permits schools to incorporate LGBTQ+-inclusive books into language arts curriculum to reflect the diversity of the school community.
- In October, Attorney General Bonta joined a multistate amicus brief in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the rights of transgender students in Doe v. Mukwonago Area School District, challenging a Wisconsin school board’s policy barring an 11-year-old transgender student from using the girls’ restroom based on her sex assigned at birth.
- In October, Attorney General Bonta joined a multistate amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of plaintiffs in Doe v. Horne, challenging Arizona’s recently-enacted legislation prohibiting transgender students from participating on women’s and girls’ school athletic teams.
- In August, Attorney General Bonta led a multistate coalition in filing an amicus brief opposing state laws in Kentucky and Tennessee restricting transgender youths' access to critical and lifesaving healthcare.
- In May, Attorney General Bonta led a multistate coalition in supporting a challenge to a Florida rule restricting access to gender-affirming care and joined another multistate coalition defending a Colorado law that prohibits gay and transgender conversion therapy on children and youth.
In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the amicus brief is available here.
