Bonta v. Chino Valley Unified School District
California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta filed this case to challenge a new policy that Chino Valley Unified School District adopted in July 2023. The policy requires schools to “out” transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students to their parents, even when those students reasonably fear their unsupportive parents learning about their identities. For example, under the policy, if a student asks a teacher to refer to them using a name or pronoun different from what’s in official records, the school must inform their parents.
As Attorney General Bonta put it, Chino Valley students “are in real fear that the District’s policy will force them to make a choice: either ‘walk back’ their constitutionally and statutorily protected rights to gender identity and gender expression, or face the risk of emotional, physical, and psychological harm from non-affirming or unaccepting parents or guardians.”
In September 2023, a California court issued an order temporarily blocking the policy. On October 5, 2023, Public Justice joined an amicus brief filed in support of the state’s request for the court to extend that order. The brief was authored by the ACLU of Southern California and ACLU of Northern California.
On October 19, 2023, after a hearing, the California court issued a preliminary injunction that continues to block the school district’s policy.
