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![Calfifornia Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General](/sites/default/themes/custom2017/oag2017/img/doj-seal-header.png)
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a legal alert addressed to all California county, school district, and charter school boards and superintendents, warning them against forced gender identity disclosure policies detrimental to the privacy, safety, and well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming students. Forced disclosure policies require schools to inform parents 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 or when doing so would put them at risk of physical, emotional, or psychological harm. Such policies also require notification if a student requests to use facilities or participates in programs that do not align with their sex on official records. In today’s alert, Attorney General Bonta reminds all school boards that these forced gender identity disclosure policies violate the California Constitution and state laws safeguarding students’ civil rights. Today’s announcement comes after Attorney General Bonta secured a ruling from the San Bernardino Superior Court preliminarily enjoining the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education’s mandatory gender identity disclosure policy in October 2023.
“Unconstitutional school policies that forcibly out and endanger the psychological and emotional well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming students have no place in our classrooms,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s alert serves as a reminder to all school officials of their duty to ensure a safe and inclusive learning environment, particularly for our most vulnerable student populations susceptible to violence and harassment. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue safeguarding the civil rights of all students.”
In today’s alert, Attorney General Bonta stresses that forced gender identity disclosure policies infringe on several state protections safeguarding students’ civil and constitutional rights, including:
The Attorney General 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 when those environments are not supportive of their gender identity.
A copy of the alert is available here.