Victory for Parental Rights: California’s School Gender Secrecy Policies Blocked

It’s official, California’s schools are prohibited from secretly raising children as the other sex without parental knowledge! No more school deception. Every single school district must stop transitioning kids. Parents, not teachers, have the natural and constitutional rights to raise their kids and this truth has been formally recognized in the courts.

In a resounding triumph for families across the Golden State, the Thomas More Society has secured a historic class-action victory that permanently blocks California’s dangerous regime of gender secrecy in public schools. On December 22, 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez issued a sweeping permanent injunction in the case of Mirabelli et al. v. Olson et al., declaring that policies forcing schools to conceal a child’s gender identity or social transition from parents are unconstitutional.

 

This ruling ends years of state-sponsored deception, where school officials were compelled to hide critical information about students’ gender incongruence, often using preferred names and pronouns at school while reverting to biological details when speaking to parents. No longer can educators or administrators act as gatekeepers, withholding vital details that impact a child’s health, welfare, and upbringing.

The Origins of the Fight

 

The battle began in 2023 when two dedicated Christian teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West from the Escondido Union School District, refused to comply with policies that required them to lie to parents. These brave educators believed that deceiving families violated their faith, professional ethics, and the trust essential to education.

 

Represented by the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm championing life, family, and freedom, they filed suit against the district, the California Department of Education, and state officials.

 

As the case progressed, it expanded into a class action, incorporating harmed parents whose children were socially transitioned at school without their knowledge.

 

One family only discovered the truth after their child’s tragic suicide attempt. The lawsuit challenged not only local policies but the statewide push, including guidance from Attorney General Rob Bonta and laws like AB 1955 (the SAFETY Act), which sought to prohibit mandatory parental notification and shield secrecy.

In his comprehensive 52-page opinion, Judge Benitez, answered four pivotal questions affirmatively:

 

• Do parents have a Fourteenth Amendment right to information about their child’s gender identity expressed at school? Yes.
• Do teachers have a First Amendment right to provide accurate information to parents? Yes.
• Does the state’s interest in student privacy override these rights? No.
• Can schools impose secrecy that interferes with parental decision-making on matters like gender transition? Absolutely not.

 

Drawing upon longstanding Supreme Court precedents affirming parents’ fundamental liberty to direct their children’s care, education, and medical decisions, Judge Benitez labeled California’s policies a “trifecta of harm” to students, parents, and teachers, noting that while protecting vulnerable children from harassment is laudable, it cannot come at the expense of constitutional rights.

 

*The note that I want us all to comprehend here is how our Constitutional rights in America are a recognition of our God-given rights. So in actuality, this case didn’t just cement our Constitutional rights, but our God-given rights. This is how government is supposed to function! What a phenomenal win for the future generations of California.

 

A Massive Win for Parental Rights

 

“The [CA] State Defendants’ experts say that a child’s gender identity is innate.

 

There is no evidence presented to back up that assertion.” This statement means that a CA judge is the first in the nation to question the entire foundation of the gender ideology.

 

This groundbreaking critique from Judge Benitez exposes the lack of scientific backing for claims central to the state’s defense of secrecy policies. By demanding evidence and finding none, the ruling not only dismantles California’s approach but also challenges the ideological underpinnings driving similar policies nationwide.

 

Statements made by the judge prove to the rest of the country that we shouldn’t write off the state, but in fact, that we should lean in and continue the fight for it!

 

Thankfully, this decision protects all California parents, teachers, and students. The class-wide injunction bars state and local officials from enforcing any policy that requires or induces school personnel to withhold or mislead parents about issues materially affecting a student’s health or welfare, specifically gender incongruence.

 

Paul M. Jonna, Special Counsel at the Thomas More Society and lead attorney, hailed it as an “incredible victory” that “finally, and permanently, ends California’s dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools.” He also warned that any school officials continuing to mandate secrecy now face severe legal consequences.

 

Teachers Mirabelli and West echoed the sentiment: “This victory is not just ours. It is a win for honesty, transparency, and the fundamental rights of teachers and parents.”

 

The ruling has restored common sense to public education, even if, in this one area, we are taking it as a win.

 

Parents, not government agents or ideologically driven bureaucrats, hold the natural and God-given authority to guide their children through sensitive issues like gender confusion and human sexuality. Schools exist to educate, not to usurp the family or facilitate irreversible changes behind parents’ backs.

 

Looking Ahead: A Beacon for the Nation

 

This triumph comes amid a national debate over transgender policies in schools. California’s aggressive push for secrecy, including suing districts that favored transparency, has been decisively rebuked.

 

Families can now breathe easier knowing that deception is no longer state policy.
Transparency rebuilds trust, protects children from potential harm, and reaffirms that the parent-child bond is inviolable.

 

In the words of Judge Benitez, California’s education policymakers “would not receive top grades as students of Constitutional Law.” But today, parents do, and justice has prevailed.

Thank you for your support.

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