California gender-secrecy law for students suffers another legal defeat in SoCal city

A California law that bars schools from telling parents if their child comes out as transgender has been temporarily blocked after a federal appeals court sided with a conservative Southern California city challenging the measure.

The Ninth Circuit’s ruling marks a dramatic turnaround in a legal fight between the state and Huntington Beach, which has argued that parents have a right to know about changes related to their children’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“The Ninth Circuit’s decision is a powerful vindication of parental rights,” said Nick Barry, senior counsel at the Trump-aligned America First Legal, which represented the city of Huntington Beach.

“California cannot use state law to force schoolteachers and administrators into a conspiracy of silence against parents,” he declared.

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.

Huntington Beach city council was aghast when Newsom signed the law. The city decided to respond by passing a “Parents Right to Know” ordinance that requires teachers to inform parents of their children’s sexual orientation and gender identification.

The ordinance was intended to push back against state Democrats who argued that “outing” a child’s sexual identity to family members could be harmful, according to then-Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark.

“This call for an Ordinance represents the city taking a stand against Sacramento’s overreach in its blatant invasion of the parent-child relationship,” she said.

The city later sued the state, but a federal court in 2025 denied Huntington Beach’s request for an emergency order blocking the law. A lower court also ruled that the city lacked standing to sue.

Everything changed, however, when this year, the US Supreme Court in another court case blocked the California law and said “parents—not the State—have primary authority with respect to the upbringing and education of children.”

In its latest decision, the Ninth Circuit said the Supreme Court case meant that Huntington Beach is “likely to succeed on the merits of their constitutional claim.”

“This decision is a direct result of the courage of our clients who challenged California’s gender secrecy regime back in 2023,” said Paul M. Jonna, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, which was involved in the Supreme Court case.

Newsom and other California Democrats have expressed displeasure with the Supreme Court decision and are still continuing to fight the implications of it.

“The shadow docket ruling by the Supreme Court undermines student privacy and the ability to learn in a safe and supportive classroom, free from discrimination based on gender identity,” the governor had said in a statement.

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