A federal judge certified a class action lawsuit this week, representing all California parents and teachers affected by Parental Exclusion Policies on students’ gender identity, following a lawsuit by the Thomas More Society.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez certified a class action lawsuit on October 15. In the case Mirabelli v. Olson, the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm, is representing the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the Escondido Union School District, the California Department of Education and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The court order in Mirabelli v. Olson means the case will represent over 300,000 California public school teachers and the parents of more than 5 million California public school students.
Judge Benitez wrote in the court order, “Injunctive relief on behalf of the proposed class would achieve systemic changes to the California Department of Education that would obviate the need for future lawsuits seeking similar relief.”
On November 17, a summary judgment hearing could end California’s Parental Exclusion Policies statewide. The hearing will decide if Judge Benitez rules that these policies violate parents’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to their children’s upbringing and for teachers, their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religious expression.
Under these policies, teachers and administrators are required to use preferred pronouns requested by a student and hide a child’s gender identity from parents. They use biological pronouns and legal names only when speaking with parents, if the child requests parents be kept in the dark.