(The Center Square) – A federal judge certified a class action lawsuit this week, representing all California parents and teachers affected by Parental Exclusion Policies on students’ gender identity, following a lawsuit by the Thomas More Society.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez certified a class action lawsuit on October 15. In the case Mirabelli v. Olson, the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm, is representing the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the Escondido Union School District, the California Department of Education and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The court order in Mirabelli v. Olson means the case will represent over 300,000 California public school teachers and the parents of more than 5 million California public school students.
Judge Benitez wrote in the court order, “Injunctive relief on behalf of the proposed class would achieve systemic changes to the California Department of Education that would obviate the need for future lawsuits seeking similar relief.”
On November 17, a summary judgment hearing could end California’s Parental Exclusion Policies statewide. The hearing will decide if Judge Benitez rules that these policies violate parents’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to their children’s upbringing and for teachers, their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religious expression.
Under these policies, teachers and administrators are required to use preferred pronouns requested by a student and hide a child’s gender identity from parents. They use biological pronouns and legal names only when speaking with parents, if the child requests parents be kept in the dark.
“Judge Benitez has recognized that California’s gender secrecy policies affect millions of families and teachers, and that everyone impacted deserves to have the fundamental constitutional issues squarely resolved,” said Paul Jonna, special counsel for Thomas More Society and a partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, in a press release. “With this class action certified, every affected parent and teacher in California now has a voice in court.”
The suit began in April 2023 when two Escondido teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, sued their school district in San Diego County and the CDE, after the district refused to grant them religious accommodation.
“Parents have a fundamental right, recognized by the Supreme Court for over a century, to direct their children’s educational and moral upbringing,” said Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at Thomas More Society, in a press release. “California’s Department of Education and school districts cannot override that right by keeping parents in the dark about major issues and developments in their child’s life.”
The Center Square reached out to the CDE and AG Bonta for a comment on this court order, but has not received a response.
