California city sues Gavin Newsom over parental rights

A California city is suing Gov. Gavin Newsom for a new state law which requires educators to hide students’ gender identity issues from their parents.

Huntington Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday claiming AB 1955 violates parental rights and the Fourteenth Amendment.

“The State of California is now using state law to force schools to hide a child’s desire to ‘gender transition’ from parents,” explained Gene Hamilton, executive director of American First Legal which is representing the plaintiffs.

“This is outrageous. Parents – not the government or any school system – have the utmost right to raise their children and protect their children from this dangerous ideology. We are proud to represent these courageous parents and the City of Huntington Beach in this righteous fight against tyranny.” 

The defendants in the case are Newsom as well as state Attorney General Rob Bonta and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. 

Nine families joined the lawsuit, all of whom had children who struggled with gender dysphoria. 

All the children in the suit suffered from other mental health conditions as well, including depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, trauma from sexual assault, and suicidal and violent ideations. 

Even the parents who self-identified as liberal and not anti-trans felt passionately that being informed about their children’s mental state was vital. 

One family even experienced tremendous pressure from the combined forces of their school, Child Protective Services and their own insurance company to transition their young child despite their better judgement. 

AB 1955 – which became law in July and goes into effect in 2025 – would cement such behavior into law. 

However, the lawsuit explains the law puts parents in an impossible bind. 

“California cannot order parents to give up their parental rights to refuse medical treatment and make executive decisions for their child, absent some finding that the parents are unfit,” the suit reads. If AB 1955 goes into effect, “parents [will be] forced to choose between removing their children from California’s public and charter schools or sacrificing the benefit of an education that they pay for with their own tax dollars. 

“AB 1955 violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right of parents to make decisions about their minor children, particularly regarding the right to refuse medical treatment – in this case, social transitioning.”  

Nicole Neily, president and founder of Parents Defending Education, affirmed the importance of such lawsuits.  

“This is a fundamental question of whether you believe children belong to the state or their parents,” she wrote. “If we allow school districts to keep secrets from parents – it won’t end there.”