California bill to prevent schools secretly transitioning kids without parental consent won’t get hearing

A California bill that would have required teachers, school counselors, and other school staff to inform parents within three days if their child has adopted a transgender identity will not even be granted a first hearing.

AB 1314, authored by Assemblyman Bill Essayli, was assigned to the Assembly Education Committee chaired by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi. On April 10, Muratsuchi announced that the bill would not even receive a first hearing “not only because the bill is proposing bad policy, but also because a hearing would potentially provide a forum for increasing hateful rhetoric targeting LGBTQ youth.”

AB 1314 would have required school staff to inform parents in writing within three days of becoming aware that a student is identifying at school as a gender that doesn’t not align with the child’s sex on their birth certificate, and/or is using sex-segregated facilities reserved for members of the opposite sex. 

The bill was sponsored by Our Duty, an international support network for parents who wish to protect their children from gender ideology.

Speaking before the Chino Valley Unified School Board on April 6, Essayli explained that children don’t have the capacity to make decisions as minors and parental involvement is critical for their well-being.

“When we found out that there were school districts actively transitioning kids without their parents’ knowledge or consent, this is an issue which I thought it was appropriate to take action on, and that’s why I introduced AB 1314,” said Essayli.

“It doesn’t out anybody,” he continued. “What it says is if the school is going to actively participate in the social transitioning of the minor, the parents have to be notified. It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change how they identify…All it says is that you have to bring parents into the loop and they have to know what’s happening.”

Muratsuchi disagrees. In a statement he said the bill would require educators to “out” a student to their parents, even when the student does not feel comfortable coming out, “potentially forcing them into an unwelcoming or abusive home.”

“As a parent, I believe that gender identity conversations between parents and their children should occur in a safe and privates space,” said Muratsuchi.

The LGBTQ Caucus said in a statement that they strongly support Chair Muratsuchi’s decision not to allow a hearing for AB 1314, stating that the “California Legislature should not provide a platform for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that threatens the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth and empowers those who wish to cause them harm.”

Essayli responded to the decision not to allow a hearing by saying he felt it was “a huge insult tot he parents of California, that the official position of the Democrat Party is that the parents don’t have a right to know what’s going on with their kids at school.”

“I think most parents will find that shocking that that’s the position of the government,” Essayli told KCRA.

Dr. Erica Anderson, a trans-identified male clinical psychologist with vast experience treating young people suffering from gender dysphoria, said recently that schools facilitating the social transition of children without parental consent or knowledge are violating mental health practices and principles and are possibly setting children on a path towards an experimental medical sex change.

Anderson was called as an expert witness in support of the Wisconsin family suing their school district for allowing their daughter to adopt a male name and pronouns without their consent or knowledge.

Anderson’s affidavit explains how social transition is a powerful psychotherapeutic intervention that “has the potential to increase the likelihood of persistence of gender incongruence.”

“No professional medical association that I am aware of recommends social transition of children and adolescents without a careful assessment and treatment plan,” said the expert witness, who added that excluding parents from such an important decision drives a wedge between parents and their child at a time when open communication is so important.

Dr. Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, also believes social transition is “not a neutral act.” In the interim report of her independent review of England’s youth gender service, Cass stated, “it is important to view [social transition] as an active intervention because it may have significant effects on the child or young person in terms of their psychological functioning.”

Jessica Tapia, a former teacher at the Jurupa Unified School District, was recently fired for refusing to lie to parents by keeping their child's gender transition a secret.

"We're talking [about] 12, 13, 14, 15-year-olds. I don't believe [kids] should have this 'privacy' to where their parents are being left in the dark about some very pertinent information about their well-being,” Tapia said in an interview with Fox News. Tapia believes she was fired for her religious beliefs and intends to bring legal action against the school district.