Court halts injunction on California gender secrecy policy

By Esther Wickham
The Center Square

In Mirabelli v. Bonta, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted California’s emergency motion for a freeze, temporarily suspending a class-wide permanent injunction against the state’s gender secrecy policies in public schools.

Since 2023, the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm, has been representing the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against the Escondido Union School District, the California Department of Education and California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Before the appeal, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez certified a class action lawsuit in Mirabelli v. Bonta.

The appellate court had granted the motion to pause the permanent injunction, finding that there was no clear evidence that the policies prevent parents from obtaining information about their children.

“Because the policies at issue do not categorically forbid disclosure of information about students’ gender identities to parents without student consent, other parties in this action, including the Plaintiffs, will not be substantially injured from the issuance of a stay,” the order stated. “Additionally, the public interest in protecting students and avoiding confusion among schoolteachers and administrators weighs in favor of a stay.”

The suit began in April 2023, when two Escondido teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, sued their San Diego County school district and the California Department of Education after the district refused to grant them a religious accommodation.

“We are deeply disappointed that this three-judge panel has taken the extraordinary step of staying a class-wide permanent injunction, disregarding the severe irreparable harm that will now occur to our clients and all members of the classes,” Paul M. Jonna, special counsel for Thomas More Society and a partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, said in a statement.

Thomas More Society attorneys plan to file their request for en banc reconsideration of the case, as well as an emergency request to the U.S. Supreme Court for the Ninth Circuit’s freeze order.

“We are pleased that the Ninth Circuit has agreed we are likely to succeed on appeal in arguing that the district court’s injunction is unnecessarily vague, far more sweeping than necessary to remedy the alleged harms, reliant on faulty readings of the policies at issue, and contrary to longstanding principles of constitutional law,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s press office told The Center Square. “The stay protects vulnerable students and avoids confusion for teachers and schools while we appeal the district court’s decision. We look forward to continuing to make our case in court.”

The school policies require teachers and administrators to use a student’s preferred pronouns and, at the student’s request, withhold information about the child’s gender identity from parents. Biological pronouns and legal names are used when communicating with parents if the student asks that the parents not be informed.

The Center Square reached out to the California Department of Education for a comment, but did not receive a response.