A federal judge has struck down California school policies that prohibit teachers from notifying parents when a student changes their gender identity, declaring such “parental exclusion policies” unconstitutional.
In a sweeping 52-page order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez granted a permanent injunction against state officials, ruling that the government cannot override a parent’s fundamental right to direct the upbringing and medical care of their children.
The ruling in Mirabelli et al. v. Olson et al. marks a significant legal turning point in the national debate over student privacy versus parental rights. Judge Benitez ruled that the policies violated the 14th Amendment’s substantive due process clause and the First Amendment rights of religious parents and teachers.
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“It is a grave mistake to deprive parents of information about their child’s gender at school,” Benitez wrote, rejecting the state’s argument that student privacy should supersede parental involvement. “The state purposefully interferes with a parent’s access to meaningful information about their child’s gender identity choices… The problem is that the parent exclusion policies seem to presume that it is the parents that will be the harassers from whom students need to be protected.”
A “Trifecta of Harm”
The class-action lawsuit was brought by two teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, along with a group of parents identified pseudonymously as the “Poes” and “Does.” The plaintiffs argued that school districts, following guidance from the California Department of Education, forced teachers to deceive parents if a student requested to go by a new name or pronouns at school.
Judge Benitez described the state’s approach as a “trifecta of harm”: harming children by cutting them off from parental support, harming parents by usurping their decision-making rights, and harming teachers by compelling them to lie against their religious convictions.
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The court order highlighted the experience of the “Poe” family, whose middle school daughter was socially transitioned by school staff without parental knowledge. The parents only learned of the situation after the student’s mental health deteriorated significantly, leading to hospitalization.
“Had the parents been unaware of their boy’s new gender expression, the boy may have continued through his years mistakenly thinking he must be a girl,” Benitez noted, citing expert testimony that social transitioning is a form of medical intervention that requires parental oversight.
State Arguments on Privacy Rejected
The State Defendants, including the Superintendent of Public Instruction and members of the State Board of Education, defended the policies by arguing they were necessary to create a safe learning environment. They contended that “outing” students to their parents could lead to bullying, harassment, or abuse, and asserted that a student has a privacy right to bodily autonomy that schools must protect.
The State also argued that respecting a student’s request for a new name or pronoun was a social courtesy, not a medical treatment.
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Judge Benitez rejected these arguments, stating that the government failed to show that keeping parents in the dark was a narrowly tailored solution to a compelling state interest. He noted that while protecting students is a valid goal, the state cannot assume parents are a danger to their own children.
“Disagreement is not abuse, and the court so finds,” the order stated. “Simply because the decision of a parent is not agreeable to a child or because it involves risks does not automatically transfer the power to make that decision from the parents to some agency or officer of the state.”
Constitutional Precedent
The ruling relies heavily on Supreme Court precedents establishing the parent-child relationship as older and more fundamental than the rights of the state. The court cited Parham v. J.R. and the recent 2025 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor to underscore that parents—not school administrators—hold the “high duty” to recognize symptoms of illness or distress in their children.
Benitez also addressed the First Amendment claims, ruling that the policies burdened the free exercise rights of religious parents who believe gender is divinely ordained, as well as Christian teachers who faced the threat of termination for refusing to deceive parents.
“California public schools may be gun-free zones, but they are not First Amendment-free zones,” Benitez wrote.
Permanent Injunction
The order grants summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and issues a permanent injunction. This effectively bars the enforcement of policies that punish teachers for voluntarily disclosing gender identity information to parents or that require staff to lie to parents.
While the ruling addresses the specific certified class of parents and teachers, its legal rationale strikes at the core of policies adopted by hundreds of school districts across California. The judge concluded that while the state’s desire to support transgender students is “laudable,” it cannot be achieved by trampling on constitutional rights.
“The State Defendants are, in essence, asking this Court to limit, and restrict a common-sense and legally sound description by the United States Supreme Court of parental rights,” Benitez concluded. “That, this Court will not do.”
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