The law also requires the California Department of Education to develop resources supporting LGBTQ+ families.
July 16, 2024After several school districts in California enacted policies last year that required school personnel to out trans students to their parents, the state just became the first in the nation to pass a law that explicitly prohibits such policies.
On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Support Academic Future and Educators for Today’s Youth Act (SAFETY Act) into law. In addition to banning schools from implementing forced outing policies, the legislation also states that the California Department of Education will develop resources for parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ+ students, in partnership with actual LGBTQ+ families. Additionally, school employees are explicitly protected from retaliation for providing support to LGBTQ+ students, including teaching LGBTQ+-inclusive curricula and supporting LGBTQ+ students’ rights to privacy.
In a statement to ABC News, Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Newsom, said, “This law helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents. 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.”
Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), who introduced the Act, noted in a press release that “Politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary, and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California.”
“While some school districts have adopted policies to forcibly out students, the SAFETY Act ensures that discussions about gender identity remain a private matter within the family,” Ward said. “As a parent, I urge all parents to talk to their children, listen to them, and love them unconditionally for who they are.”
Last year, at least a dozen school districts in California passed or considered policies that would have required school personnel to notify students’ parents if a student requested to be referred to with a different name, pronouns, or gender than what is recorded on their birth certificate, according to a statement from Equality California. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), which appears to be the first to pass such a policy, in August, alleging that the policy violated the state constitution and state laws that safeguard civil rights. This March, CVUSD altered the policy to remove all references to gender identification change, in a move that advocates called an attempt to find a legal loophole.
Temecula school board president Joseph Komrosky ushered in conservative policies and called Harvey Milk a “pedophile,” prompting a recall race against him and a rebuke from Gov. Newsom.
LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Equality California expressed gratitude to Newsom for signing the Act into law. “LGBTQ+ youth across California can now have these important family conversations when they are ready and in ways that strengthen the relationship between parent and child, not as a result of extremist politicians intruding into the parent-child relationship,” the group said in a statement.
“The SAFETY Act could not be more timely or necessary, and LGBTQ+ students across California can breathe a sigh of relief following today’s action by the Governor,” the organization said.
According to the legislative tracking organization Movement Advancement Project, eight states have passed laws that require school personnel to out trans students, and five additional states promote the practice, but don’t require it under state law.
