The Thomas More Society (TMS), a nonprofit law firm made up of Catholic lawyers, has filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to intervene after the Ninth Circuit said California public schools can continue their policy of keeping children’s “gender identities” secret from parents.
“Right now, California’s parental deception scheme is keeping families in the dark and causing irreparable harm,” Paul Jonna, special counsel for TMS and practicing attorney, said in a press release from the firm. “That’s why we’re asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene immediately. The state is inserting itself unconstitutionally between parents and children, forcing schools to deceive families, and punishing teachers who tell the truth.”
The current California law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024, makes it illegal for public school employees to inform parents if their children decided to change their names, pronouns, or “‘gender identity,” unless there is a “compelling” reason to do so, according to Fox News.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez blocked parts of the law via permanent injunction Dec. 22, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals paused Benitez’s ruling Dec. 26.
According to the TMS, the plaintiffs include a Catholic couple who were not informed that their middle school daughter had been identifying as male at school for almost a year. They only found out after their daughter attempted to kill herself. Private schooling was outside of their financial means, so they transferred their daughter to another school and requested the school use her legal name and female pronouns. However, the new school refuses to do so.
“No parent should learn their child was in crisis because the government ordered schools to keep secrets,” Jonna said, according to the TMS.
Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at TMSy, believes that California’s law rests on shaky legal ground.
“California has spent three years evading accountability—scrubbing websites, hiding policies in teacher training, shifting legal arguments,” Breen said, according to the release. “We won’t let procedural gamesmanship delay justice for these families. The appellate court’s order misstated the record and ignored recent Supreme Court precedent, and we are confident in the strength of our legal position.”
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