California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-of-its-kind law Monday that allows schools to hide information from parents about a child’s gender identity. Under AB-1955, school districts are prohibited from requiring teachers and officials to disclose “any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person” without the student’s consent.
Newsom, a Democrat, did not release a statement about the bill.
The new law will allow trans-identifying students to secretly identify as one gender at school and their birth gender at home without their parent’s knowledge. California is the first state to have such a law.
It passed the Assembly 61-16 and the Senate 29-8. Democrats control both chambers.
The bill claims that “parents and families across California understand that coming out as LGBTQ+ is an extremely personal decision and want to support their children in coming out to them on their own terms.”
“Parents and families have an important role to play in the lives of young people,” the bill’s findings say. “Studies confirm that LGBTQ+ youth thrive when they have parental support and feel safe sharing their full identities with them, but it can be harmful to force young people to share their full identities before they are ready.”
However, critics of the new law say it infringes on parental rights and pits families against teachers.
Jonathan Keller, president of the California Family Council, said Newsom’s signing of the bill is a “direct assault on the safety of children and the rights of their parents.”
“By allowing schools to withhold vital information from mothers and fathers, this bill undermines their fundamental role and places boys and girls in potential jeopardy,” Keller said. “Moms and dads have both a constitutional and divine mandate to guide and protect their kids, and AB 1955 egregiously violates this sacred trust.”
Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a Republican who opposed the bill, said Newsom’s support “defied parents’ constitutional and God-given right to raise their children.”
“AB 1955 endangers children by excluding parents from important matters impacting their child’s health and welfare at school,” Essayli said. “Governor Newsom signing AB 1955 is both immoral and unconstitutional, and we will challenge it in court to stop the government from keeping secrets from parents.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Justin Sullivan/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.