Audrey Tillotson

In July 2024, California became the first state to prohibit school districts from outing students without their consent. It is important to remember that school should be a safe space for all students. By spreading kindness and showing inclusivity to all, we can make a difference.

The California State Legislature passed a bill over the summer (AB 1955) that was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom making it unlawful for individual school districts to pass so-called parental notification policies.

AB1955, also known as the The Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth or SAFETY Act, seeks to protect student privacy and prohibit forced outings of students by teachers and faculty.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill on July 15th, 2024.

Over the past two years, several California school districts have enacted parental notification policies that would require schools to notify parents if their child changed their name, pronouns, or requested to use facilities and participate in programs that don’t match their gender affiliating sex on official records.

The districts who enacted them are Chino Hills, Orange Unified, and Temecula Valley. An effort to enact a similar policy was also made in Capistrano Unified, but failed last year.

The new law came about as a result of uproar on both sides of the issue statewide after Chino Valley’s board forcibly removed State Superintendent of Schools, Tony Thurmond, from a board meeting in July of 2023.

Lawmakers and assembly members met last June in Sacramento to deal with the issue after California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed suit against some of the districts for their policies. After floor debate between Democrats and Republicans, the Democratic majority won in a 61-16 vote. 

Assembly Bill 1955, initially introduced by assembly member Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego), declares that school employees and faculty are not indispensable to share any information regarding a students’ LGBTQ+ identity to any other person without their consent, unless required by state or federal law. 

AB1955 prohibits “forced disclosure” of K-12 youth LGBTQ+ student sharing decisions, specifically to their own family, while also providing resources for parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ+ students to help conversations around gender and identity on their own terms, according to the law.

The Safety Act does not restrain students’ and their parents’ discussions about gender and sexual identities within their own families of their choosing, as well as not limiting parent access to school records. The bill remains as a protection for both students, and school faculty and staff preventing chastisement for refusing to forcibly out a student.

Multiple organizations and public state figures have come out advocating for both the law and similar causes before it was passed, including Gov. Newsom, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, The Trevor Project, as well as eight other states. 

Each state and organization have highlighted the risks of the LGBTQ+ youth experience, and the irreparable harms concerning home, and school life safety, regarding both bullying and suicide if the bill was potentially denied. All of this further contributed to the passing of the bill.

“I take very seriously the work I do as a parent at home to meet their needs, and I don’t honestly expect teachers to sub my role as a parent…I want them to teach my kids, and I want them to keep them safe and make them feel included and not outed,” Newsom told the press in Nov. 2023.

Though the bill has already been passed, over a dozen conservative-leaning school districts, and the city of Huntington Beach, aim to oppose it.

The city of Huntington Beach passed a city ordinance against the state law, even though cities don’t have jurisdiction over school districts. They plan to challenge AB 1955, or join a parents’ challenge to the law.

The city has not specified how they would carry out its ordinance, or how it will deal with any penalties for complying with the state’s law. The city’s activities so far have consisted of simply opposing the governor’s signings, and support issues.

“The governor can raise his children the way he wants… I will raise my children the way I want. They’re our children and it’s our choice. He needs to stick his nose out of our business,” said Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, of Huntington Beach, on FOX 11.

However, even push-back against AB1955, city government has minimal jurisdiction over local schools and school districts, and all potential future decisions made about countering the bill will be determined by state lawmakers and courts.