Newsom Signs Parental Secrecy Bill, Endangering Child Safety

The California Family Council (CFC) vehemently condemns Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to sign AB 1955, a bill that creates a government-imposed wall of secrecy between parents and their children. This legislation, passed by the California Legislature and now signed into law, allows schools to withhold critical information from parents about their children’s health and welfare. The bill specifically prohibits school districts from enacting policies requiring parents to be notified if their child has asked everyone at school to use a different name and pronoun. 

 

 

“Governor Newsom’s signing of AB 1955 is a direct assault on the safety of children and the rights of their parents. By allowing schools to withhold vital information from mothers and fathers, this bill undermines their fundamental role and places boys and girls in potential jeopardy. Moms and dads have both a constitutional and divine mandate to guide and protect their kids, and AB 1955 egregiously violates this sacred trust.”

 

Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a staunch advocate for parental rights and author of AB 1314, which aimed to ensure parental notification for gender changes on school records, also voiced strong opposition:

 

“Today, Governor Gavin Newsom defied parents’ constitutional and God-given right to raise their children by signing AB 1955, which codifies the government’s authority to keep secrets from parents. AB 1955 endangers children by excluding parents from important matters impacting their child’s health and welfare at school. Governor Newsom signing AB 1955 is both immoral and unconstitutional, and we will challenge it in court to stop the government from keeping secrets from parents.”

Parental rights have been under continuous attack by the California Legislature. Assemblyman Essayli’s efforts to pass AB 1314, which would ensure parents are aware if their child requests to change their gender on official school records, were blocked by legislative Democrats. Additionally, Attorney General Rob Bonta has been actively suing school districts to maintain this secrecy. AB 1955 further solidifies the government’s authority to withhold vital information from parents.

 

Adding to the outcry, a federal judge in San Diego recently declared that policies that enforce secrecy regarding students’ gender identity violate parents’ constitutional rights. In a landmark ruling last September, Judge Roger T. Benitez blocked the Escondido Union School District’s policy, stating, “Parental involvement is essential to the healthy maturation of schoolchildren.” 

 

Children often make “impetuous and ill-considered life decisions,” the judge wrote, and that under the Constitution, parents have the right to direct their child’s “education, health, and upbringing.” He stated it was “unlikely” that constitutional rights to privacy for children include a “right of confidentiality from their own parents.”

 

Finally, he described the parental exclusion policies as a “trifecta of harm” and detailed the abuses it imposes on children, parents, and teachers. 

 

Such policies harm “the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse. It harms the parents by depriving them of the long-recognized Fourteenth Amendment right to care, guide, and make health care decisions for their children. And finally, it harms plaintiffs [teachers] who are compelled to violate the parent’s rights by forcing plaintiffs to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students — violating plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.”

 

The California Family Council stands united with Assemblyman Bill Essayli and other advocates for parental rights in opposing this unjust and harmful legislation. We are committed to challenging AB 1955 in court and advocating for policies that uphold the sanctity of the family and the rights of parents.