Two middle school teachers in California filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the school district and the California State Board of Education over policies they say required them to lie to parents about their children’s gender identity.
Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, teachers at Rincon Middle School in Escondido, California, claim the school’s “gender diverse” policy forced them to validate a child’s gender identity with parental knowledge.
“The school is violating the parent’s fundamental rights to raise their own kids. But in addition, they’re compelling Elizabeth to speak in a way that violates her faith, to express views that she disagrees with and to deceive parents participating in these students’ social transition,” Mirabelli’s attorney said.
From Fox News:
The teachers claim they were mandated under the K-8 school district's policies to accept a child's transgender or gender-diverse identity without hesitation and to hide it from families. They said they were instructed to use students' preferred names and pronouns in school, but to revert to their biological pronouns and given names when speaking with their parents. When encountering "a suspicious parent," teachers were instructed to reply that they were allowed only to discuss "information regarding the student’s behavior as it relates to school, class rules, assignments, etc.," according to the suit.
