Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) on Monday signed a California bill that bans schools from alerting parents if their child is socially transitioning to a different gender, taking an unpopular stance as he builds his national profile.
Polling has suggested that the majority of adults, both in California and nationwide, oppose the measure. It’s also likely to face expensive legal battles, with one state legislator already vowing to challenge the law in court.
"AB 1955 is an outrageous attempt to keep parents in the dark while schools indoctrinate kids with radical gender ideology," Center for American Liberty CEO and founder Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement. "By signing the bill, Gov. Newsom is transferring power away from our local communities and centralizing it in Sacramento, blatantly undermining our democratic values."
"It's crucial that we uphold local voices and the integrity of the democratic process in shaping the education of our children," she added.
The legislation, the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act, reverses some school districts’ policies that require officials to notify parents if their kids ask to go by new names and pronouns at school. It also prevents teachers who enable secret gender transitions from facing discipline or termination.
Over 60 percent of likely voters in California support schools notifying a parent if their child is being treated as a different gender at school, according to a Rasmussen poll published in June 2023. On the national level, a poll published by Center Square in November found that two-thirds of respondents think educators should be required to tell parents about their kids’ gender identity.
California adults, including public school parents, are also split on whether students should be allowed to use their preferred pronouns at school, according to an April Public Policy Institute of California survey.
Newsom signed the law just after facing a national spotlight. He was recently floated as a potential last-minute presidential candidate swap as President Joe Biden faced mounting demands to drop out of the 2024 election over questions regarding his mental fitness.
"This law helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents," Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Newsom, said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. "It protects the child-parent relationship by preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when, and how families have deeply personal conversations."
Before the SAFETY Act was signed, California attorney general Rob Bonta (D.), who supported the measure, warned that it was "likely to be challenged and potentially enjoined." He said resulting legal fights could have an "unquantifiable but potentially significant impact" on taxpayer costs.
State representative Bill Essayli (R.) promised to bring the law to court soon after it was signed. He called it "both immoral and unconstitutional."
"Today, Governor Gavin Newsom defied parents' constitutional and God-given right to raise their children by signing #AB1955 which codifies the government's authority to keep secrets from parents," Essayli posted on X. "#AB1955 endangers children by excluding parents from important matters impacting their child's health and welfare at school."
Bonta, state public schools chief Tony Thurmond, and the California Teachers Association were each involved in lawsuits against school districts that required officials to tell parents when their children request new identities.
But parents and teachers have also sued school districts that already required social transitions to remain secret. Two resulted in six-figure settlements: one to the mother of a daughter who was secretly transitioned allegedly under teacher pressure and another to a teacher who was fired for saying she wouldn’t lie to parents.