The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a series of California laws that can limit the sharing of information with parents about the gender identity of transgender public school students without the child's permission, handing a victory to Christian parents who challenged these protections.
The justices in a 6-3 decision granted an emergency request by the challengers to reinstate a judge's ruling that the privacy and anti-discrimination measures at issue undermined their religious and parental rights under the U.S. Constitution's First and 14th Amendments, while litigation continues. A federal appeals court had put that ruling on hold.
The Supreme Court's decision on Monday was powered by its conservative justices, with its three liberal members dissenting.
The court's majority said in an unsigned opinion that California's policies likely violated the religious beliefs of the parents about sex and gender, running afoul of First Amendment protections.
"The state argues that its policies advance a compelling interest in student safety and privacy. But those policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents," the court's majority stated.
In addition, the majority said, the 14th Amendment's guarantee of due process "includes the right not to be shut out of participation in decisions regarding their children’s mental health."
The California lawsuit is one of many disputes concerning efforts to protect the privacy of transgender and gender-nonconforming students playing out across the United States.
DISPUTES OVER TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
The Supreme Court has been asked repeatedly to rule on efforts by President Donald Trump's administration and Republican-led states to restrict the rights of transgender people.
The Supreme Court last year upheld Tennessee's ban on gender medical care for transgender minors and also let Trump ban transgender people from the military. It heard arguments on Jan. 13 concerning state laws in Idaho and West Virginia banning transgender athletes from female sports teams, with the conservative justices appearing ready to uphold those restrictions.
California law contains several provisions, including the right to privacy under the state constitution, that the state has said could apply when transgender students object to having their gender identities disclosed to their parents or guardians, sometimes out of fear of hostility, rejection or even violence.
The challengers in a 2023 lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the provisions said the measures require public schools to facilitate "secret gender transition" and to "hide children's expressed transgender status at school from their own parents - including religious parents."
The Democrat-governed state has said the provisions do not actually forbid sharing information with parents, and sometimes even allow or require disclosure if not doing so would endanger the student's health.
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