A California school district voted Thursday to require that school officials notify parents if their child wants to change their gender.
The Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) voted 4-1 to approve a policy that requires school employees to inform parents within three days if their child wants to identify as a gender that is different from their biological sex, or asks to be referred to as a different name than their legal name. Dozens of parents spoke in favor of and against the policy, with some saying that they wanted their children to be protected and others saying it would harm transgender children. (RELATED: ‘It’s Happening Everywhere’: Lawmakers Push To Ban Secret Student Pronoun Changes, Keep Parents Involved)
“Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here tremendously, but here’s the problem, we’re here because of people like you. You’re in Sacramento, proposing things that pervert children. You had a chance to come and talk to me, Tony, by all means, you had a chance to come talk to me. Why was it so important for you to walk with my opponent? You are the very reason why we’re in this,” Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education, said during the meeting.
Thurmond, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, argued against the proposal and alleged that it “not only may fall outside of the laws that respect privacy and safety for our students, but may put our students at risk,” according to video of the meeting. He was later asked to leave by Shaw when he attempted to speak again and was escorted out by public safety officers.
“You will not bully us here in Chino,” Shaw told Thurmon after he attempted to rebut her statement.
The policy, drafted by Shaw and Republican California Assemblyman Bill Essayli, was introduced in June. It also requires that parents be informed if a student is “accessing sex-segregated school programs and activities” or bathrooms that don’t match their biological sex, according to its text.
“Is there going to be a centralized pronoun notification database?,” one parent questioned, arguing the proposed policy would be a nuisance and be difficult to communicate between all the different teachers.
Democratic California State Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement Thursday expressing “serious concern” about the policy.
“The protection of every student’s privacy and safety is of utmost importance, and that includes protecting their right to choose when, how, and with whom they share their gender identity. That is a personal decision for them, and them alone,” Bonita said in the statement. ““By allowing for the disclosure of a student’s gender identity without their consent, Chino Valley Unified School District’s suggested Parental Notification policy would strip them of their freedom, violate their autonomy, and potentially put them in a harmful situation.”
CVUSD and Shaw did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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