This article originally appeared in the Thomas More Society 2024 Impact Report. To explore the full Impact Report, click here.

In Fresno County, California, a 14-year-old girl struggled under a weight too heavy for a child to bear alone. Filled with confusion and discomfort about her body and gender expression, she began identifying as transgender in eighth grade—unbeknownst to her parents—adopting a male identity and using male pronouns. Her parents grew concerned, noticing she had suddenly cut her hair short, which was unusual. Yet, at “Back to School Night,” none of her teachers mentioned that their daughter was presenting as a different gender or had requested a different name and pronouns.

On September 6, 2023, their daughter attempted to end her own life. She was admitted to a local medical center, then transferred to a hospital 175 miles away the next day. Her parents drove three hours each way to visit her while caring for their other two children. Consumed with worry and pain, they tried desperately to understand what was troubling their precious daughter. It was a doctor at the hospital who broke the news: “Your daughter is identifying as a boy.”

In the weeks that followed, their daughter was discharged and began slowly confiding in her parents. She revealed that her teachers had been using her preferred name and pronouns since the previous school year. Her parents were furious— how could the school keep this from them? They contacted the school to ask whether their daughter was using a different name or pronouns. The school responded, “No.” Months later, they received another dismissive reply from the administration: “We cannot share the gender identity of the student with the parent, even if that gender identity is expressed openly in class,” read a callous email.

This is the true story of one victim of California’s Parental Exclusion Policies—school district policies that require teachers and administrators to keep parents in the dark when an underage student begins to “socially transition” and wishes to keep it secret. To protect her and her family’s privacy, she is identified in federal court filings under the pseudonym “Child Poe,” and her parents as “John and Jane Poe.”

PUSHING FORWARD AGAINST PARENTAL DECEPTION

Tragically, stories like these are common in California. Child Poe’s parents, her closest allies, were kept in the dark by her school’s policies, with devastating consequences. This heartbreaking case, detailed in the Thomas More Society federal court case, Mirabelli v. Olson—in which Child Poe and her parents are now plaintiffs— exposes the devastating consequences of Parental Exclusion Policies and challenges their constitutionality. The “Poe” family’s inclusion in the case marks the next stage in the legal battle to protect children’s and parents’ rights against these radical policies.

The legal battle began when Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, two award-winning teachers in California’s Escondido Union School District (EUSD), faced a difficult choice. District policies, purportedly based on guidance from the California Department of Education, required Elizabeth, Lori, and their colleagues to hide a student’s gender identity and social transition from parents while using preferred names and pronouns that differed from legal records.

For these dedicated educators, compliance meant violating their deeply held religious beliefs about gender and betraying the trust of parents—parents of children like Child Poe, who urgently needed parental support. They loved teaching and the children they served, but refusal to comply with EUSD’s policies risked their careers. “I knew teachers were getting in trouble for speaking out… I thought, ‘Maybe I need help.’ So, I sent an email to the Thomas More Society,” Elizabeth reflected. Their courage sparked a legal battle that extends far beyond their school district.

By September 2023, TMS attorneys had won a first-of-its-kind preliminary injunction, protecting Elizabeth and Lori from EUSD’s Parental Exclusion Policy, which U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez called a “trifecta of harm” in his landmark opinion. But the fight didn’t end there. The assault on parents’ rights and children’s safety reached the highest levels of California’s government.

At the start of 2024, TMS attorneys moved to include California Attorney General Rob Bonta as a named defendant, citing his aggressive enforcement of these policies. Bonta made clear that the State of California viewed compliance with Parental Exclusion Policies not as a mere recommendation but as a constitutional mandate. After the September 2023 injunction, Bonta issued misleading “legal alerts” claiming the Mirabelli injunction had no statewide effect and even sued schools that chose transparency with parents about their children.

OUR CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER

Alongside suing Bonta, more courageous individuals joined a proposed class action against Parental Exclusion Policies. The case expanded with additional teacher-plaintiffs and families like the Poes. The inclusion of parents like John and Jane Poe and their daughter underscores that the harm of deceiving parents about their child’s gender presentation is not theoretical but a real, life-threatening issue.

The case is now proceeding in district court as TMS attorneys seek class-wide relief for all parents and teachers affected by Parental Exclusion Policies, aiming to end the radical enforcement of gender ideology in schools. For teachers like Elizabeth and Lori, Parental Exclusion Policies also violate First Amendment protections, forcing them to choose between their conscience and their livelihoods.

Mirabelli is pivotal in the fight to protect families. The tragic case of Child Poe and others like her exposes the deep harm of policies like EUSD’s, which prevent parents from supporting their children through life’s most challenging moments.

Moreover, these radical gender secrecy rules are not unique to California. Over 1,000 public school districts across 38 states have similar policies, threatening the fundamental right of parents to direct their children’s upbringing nationwide. If left unchecked, these mandates will continue to erode parental authority, harming children and families. In Mirabelli, hope and healing are on the horizon.