TRANS PANIC

Another California School District Implements Trans ‘Outing’ Policy

LGTBQ allies and concerned parents had raised the alarm about the policy passed by the Orange Unified school board.

One day after a California judge blocked a Chino school board’s “parental notification” policy—which requires schools to alert families if their child identifies as transgender—a nearby district passed a similar protocol. On Thursday, the Orange Unified School District enacted a code that mandates schools to inform parents if a student under 12 requests to use names or pronouns (or join sports teams or use facilities) that differ from their “assigned biological sex at birth.” As The Daily Beast reported, Chino Valley Unified is facing a lawsuit from the state attorney general after becoming the first to adopt the policy. Several other districts including Rocklin Unified have followed suit. Orange Unified voted after a tense public comment period rife with interruptions. One parent told the board: “This policy was hand-picked to stoke fears and outrage and play into conspiracy theories to attract the circus that we have here.”