The Murrieta Valley school board passed the proposal that requires school officials to notify parents if pupils use a name, pronouns or toilets which do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
The policy is based on a similar one adopted by the Chino Valley Unified School District, in California, last month.
Marinna de Brauwere, parent of five children in the school district, told the LA Times, that people do not “choose” to be trans, they just are.
The school board’s president, Paul F. Diffley III said,
As a parent, I would want to know about everything that concerns my child’s mental and physical health while they’re at school.
I don’t think there should be anything hidden because I have a fundamental right as a parent to bring up my child…
If I can’t get all the information [that] I need to have a reasonable discussion with my child, then the school is not doing its job.”
Prior to the meeting, the California state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, wrote to the board and urged them to withdraw the policy saying he does not believe local control extends to policies which could be
harmful to our students or create safety risks for them.
Many LGBTQ+ students are in situations where they could encounter harm or abuse in their own homes if their sexual orientation or gender identity is disclosed before they are ready.”
In a statement, the California Department of Education said:
It is critical that schools protect the well-being of students, including some of our most vulnerable students, transgender students.”
The statement said that students have a “legally protected privacy interest under the California Constitution with respect to information about their gender identity.”
California school district approves outing trans kids to parentshttps://t.co/C3N37WOtCK
— PinkNews (@PinkNews) August 15, 2023
(via PinkNews)
