California's Scott Wiener backs state lawsuit against schools that 'out' trans students to parents

A progressive California lawmaker applauded Monday’s announcement that California’s Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta had filed a civil rights lawsuit against a school district to stop its new policy requiring schools to inform parents about a student’s gender transition.

State Senator and LGBTQ activist Scott Wiener said “Forcing a teacher to out a trans kid to their parents — even if the kid isn’t ready & even if it puts them at risk of harm — is dangerous & frankly, despicable.”

He added, “Each of us decides when we come out. It’s no one else’s damn business,” and thanked the attorney general for “having these kids’ backs.” Wiener also proposed that California become a sanctuary state for trans kids, which has been called a state-sanctioned kidnapping bill. He has consistently backed legislation that prevents parents from being informed about their child's gender identity.

Earlier this month, Bonta began an investigation into the Chino Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County after district officials created a policy that required faculty to inform parents within three days if their child uses names and pronouns different from their birth certificate, or if the student requests to join sports teams or use school facilities opposite of their gender.

Bonta claimed in a release that the district’s “forced outing policy” discriminates against the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ students and goes against the state constitution.

Parents' rights groups have staged demonstrations in their districts and at the state capital in Sacramento to condemn bills that promote so-called "gender-affirming" care but prohibit informing parents.

President of the Chino Valley Unified Board of Education Sonja Shaw told The Los Angeles Times that Bonta’s efforts were “government overreach.”

Weiner, a progressive activist, previously supported SB 107, which would make the state a safe haven for child gender procedures, prohibiting out-of-state law forces from acting on subpoenas, warrants, and child custody issues if the child was brought into the state for procedures like surgical gender reassignments or the prescribing of cross-sex hormones.

He also sponsored legislation to place biological males in women's prisons and open heroin injection sites. Weiner also worked to relax laws around the sex offender registry when they involve LGBTQ minors, decriminalize infecting someone with HIV without their knowledge, and make it harder for police to arrest prostitutes.