The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a law that prevents California schools from telling parents if their child comes out as transgender, after granting an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group.
The order for now blocks a state law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July 2024 that made California the first state to bar school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification.
The ruling also blocks a rule that required teachers to use a student’s preferred pronouns.
A demonstrator holds two transgender pride flags during a protest outside the US Supreme Court. Bloomberg via Getty Images Monday’s granting of an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group comes after many parents and teachers challenged the law.
The Thomas More Society, representing two sets of Catholic parents, argued the law causes schools to mislead them and secretly facilitates gender transition in minors.
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A demonstrator holding a transgender pride flag during a protest outside the US Supreme Court. Bloomberg via Getty Images But the Supreme Court did not grant a similar request made by parents who object to the law.
“We conclude that the parents who seek religious exemptions are likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim,” the court said in an unsigned opinion, after a 6-3 vote on ideological lines.
“The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs,” the court said.
Liberal Justices Ketanji Brown, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
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California argued students have a right to privacy about their gender expression, and that the law balances that with parents’ rights.
“Currently, under California’s laws and constitutional provisions on privacy and antidiscrimination, schools may balance parental interests with students’ particular needs and circumstances, such as the risk of harm upon disclosure of the student’s gender identity without student consent,” lawyers for the state wrote.
But the Trump administration in January found that California’s policies violated parents’ right to access their children’s education records.
The Justice Department also sued after determining that the states’ transgender athlete policies violate federal civil rights law.
It comes just months after the Supreme Court upheld state bans on gender-identity-related healthcare for minors.
