Attorney for Teachers Forced to Lie to Parents About Student Gender Issues Provides Update on Lawsuit
(May 7, 2024 – San Diego, California) A lawsuit by two California educators who were forced to lie to parents about student gender transitions, brought attorneys for California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta into federal court. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ordered them to be named as defendants in the case, but they may soon be dropped by the Court given Bonta and Newsom’s unequivocal representations to the Court, on the record, disavowing any intent to enforce the unconstitutional policies against Plaintiffs’ interests.
Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and Partner, LiMandri & Jonna LLP, is representing the harassed teachers, who have since been allowed to return to their jobs under court order. He issued the following update on May 7, 2024, regarding Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al. as the lawsuit against officials with the Escondido Union School District and California Department of Education continues forward:
In April 2023, Thomas More Society Special Counsel with LiMandri & Jonna LLP filed a federal lawsuit against the governing officials of the California Department of Education and the Escondido Union School District—on behalf of two Christian teachers that objected to a state-mandated policy that requires teachers to withhold information about their students’ gender identity from those students’ own parents.
In September 2023, the court issued a ground-breaking Preliminary Injunction in favor of Mrs. West and Mrs. Mirabelli—finding that the challenged policies likely violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments—and that the policies (pushed statewide by California officials) failed to satisfy even rational basis review (let alone strict scrutiny).
The state defendants filed several motions seeking to extricate themselves from this litigation—pointing the finger at each other and at defendants that had not yet been named (like Attorney General Bonta). In response, although the Preliminary Injunction already covered all such state officials, the court ordered the plaintiffs to name both Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta as defendants. Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom then filed motions to dismiss—again trying to distance themselves from the controversy and instead pointing the finger at the local school district. At the hearing, counsel for Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta stated on the record that they would “disavow any enforcement action against Escondido Unified School District for any actions that the district takes in compliance with this court’s order.” As a result, it appears that the court may dismiss them from the case without prejudice. At this time, the court has yet to issue a final order in this regard.
Regardless of whether Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta remain in the case, they are bound by the Preliminary Injunction we obtained.
While the governor, attorney general, and other state officials have promised not to enforce these dangerous policies against our clients’ interests, they are actively involved in litigation against multiple school districts (Chino Unified, Temecula Unified, and now Rocklin Unified) that have sought to enact policies that conform to the rationale of the court’s order in Mirabelli—namely, policies that recognize that (i) parents have the right to know about their children’s gender identity and (ii) teachers cannot be forced to comply with these policies under the First Amendment. In so doing, these state actors are actively undermining the federal court order in Mirabelli—and they are doing so at their own peril. We will litigate this issue as long and as hard as necessary to vindicate these important rights for parents and teachers—including eventually before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
