In California, a bill was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to protect LGBTQIA students – particularly transgender and gay students – from being outed to their parents. With this, California became the first US state to explicitly prohibit school districts from making/implementing such a policy.
There are actually school boards in Republican-aligned locations of California that required staff to notify parents whose children showed signs of being LGBTQIA. At least seven school boards in the state — California has around 1,000 —passed related rules.
This new law now overrides such policies.
Assembly Bill 1955 will prohibit school districts from requiring staff to share information with parents about a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation, and will protect teachers from being sanctioned for teaching state-mandated sex education.
In a statement, state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, the Democratic chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, state dthat “safe and supportive schools for all our children should be our top priority”, and “and at the end of the day that’s what this bill does, ensures our K-12 campuses remain safe and affirming places for our youth no matter how they identify.”
