A judge has issued a final ruling in a lawsuit the State Attorney General filed against Chino Valley School District for their policy of requiring that parents be told when children ask to be recognized as a gender other than the one on their birth certificate. The Anderson Union High School District Board adopted a similar policy in August of last year. The AG responded, saying that such an action violates students’ civil rights by potentially exposing them to mental, emotional and physical abuse at home. Faced with the threat of a lawsuit, a new policy approved by the AUHSD Board in April removed the gender-related language, but the effect appeared to be the same. A proposed voter initiative that would have required parental notification by schools failed to qualify for the November ballot when petitions came up about 100,000 signatures short. Then a couple of months ago a state law was passed that bars such policies, but some school board members said they would defy that law. This week a judge in San Bernardino County made a very clear ruling against Chino’s policy. A recent independent survey showed 13% of high school students in Shasta County identify as LGBTQ. Statewide, more than half of transgender and non-binary youth say they’ve seriously considered suicide in the past year.
-Steve Gibson