California Attorney General sues Chino Valley Unified School District over gender notification policy

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a lawsuit Monday against the Chino Valley Unified School District over its recently adopted policy that requires schools to notify parents if their children change their gender identification or pronouns.

Bonta said he filed suit against the district over the policy that mandated this notification, calling it a "forced outing" of transgender students that violates their civil rights.

"It tramples on students' rights," Bonta told reporters. He said he is seeking a court order to immediately halt the policy from taking effect.

The move comes after Chino Valley Unified adopted the policy following a shift in leadership on the school board.

Communities are divided between those who say parents have a right to know the decisions their children are making at school and those who say that such policies would forcibly "out" transgender students to their parents and threaten the well-being of some of the most vulnerable students.

The suit argues the policy discriminates against transgender and gender non-conforming students and violates the state constitution which requires equal protection for all students regardless of their gender expression, identity or sexual orientation. It also argues the policy violates students' privacy rights.

"At this time, the District is working with its legal counsel to review the lawsuit and its contents," Andi Johnston, Chino Valley Unified School District director of communications, said in a statement.

Other Southern California districts have adopted similar policies and Bonta said he believes they will also be affected by this litigation, though they are not named in the suit.

Chino Valley Unified School District President Sonja Shaw called state officials " government bullies" trying to force districts, like hers, into compliance.

"I'm proud of our district," said Shaw. "They're going to continue to put their feet in the sand and we're not going to give up. I mean, we're going to stand in the gap. We're going to continue to push back. We're not going to let government bullies bully us into any kind of compliancy."

Critics of the notification policy said it poses a potential safety risk for children in unstable homes, but board members said they have put protections in place.

"The reason why I brought this policy forward was to put protection in place because I see people like Bonta, [Gov. Gavin] Newsom and [State Superintendent Tony] Thurmond — I call them the political cartel bullies," said Shaw. "I feel like they are after our children. And policies like this put safeties in place for our most vulnerable children."

When asked if any LGBTQ organizations have endorsed the district's controversial policy, Shaw said: 

"I wouldn't say organizations, but there's definitely people who are in that community that are supportive and behind us." 

Organizations like Our Schools USA said the policy creates an atmosphere where students are "afraid to go to school."

"Educating children works best when you have engaged parents with caring teachers, working together to create a safe space for all children to learn," said Kristi Hirst, COO of Our Schools USA. 

Hirst also taught in CVUSD for 14 years and has three children of her own. 

"This policy does the exact opposite of that," she added. "This policy has done nothing but make students afraid to go to school."

Parents and students are divided on their reaction to the attorney general's lawsuit. 

"Sounds like we voted for the school board. School board did what the voters wanted to do and it's pretty clear that's obvious," said parent Art Miranda. "Sounds like normal, big government coming from Sacramento doing what they do and step on the people."

"What if they're scared to go home and tell their parents," said Amanda Gonzales. "Who knows how they're going to react? It's not fair to the kids."

RELATED: California investigates school district's parental notification policy on children's gender identity    

Bonta announced on August 4 that he was investigating whether the Chino district infringed on students' civil rights by adopting a policy that requires teachers to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender or wants to use a name or pronoun different from what's on their birth certificate.

Chino Valley Unified School District members voted in July on the policy regarding gender identification amid an extremely heated meeting involving hundreds of parents. Board members voted 4-1 in favor of the policy to require school officials to notify parents if their children identify as transgender.

The fight over the proposed school district policies in Southern California comes as states across the country are battling over transgender rights through efforts to impose bans on gender-affirming care, bar trans athletes from girls and women's sports, and require schools to "out" trans and nonbinary students to their parents.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.