LGBTQ students who come out to their public school teachers or administrators will soon be able to do so without fear of their sexual orientation or gender identity being disclosed to their parents or guardians, except in very limited circumstances. California is now the first state to ban the outing of students without their permission.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday adopting the prohibition. It brings to an end, for now, efforts led by conservative groups to see local school boards enact such outing policies after attempts to do so in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature were blocked.
Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1955 into law without comment.
In the spring gay state Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) had revived the legislative proposal after shelving it last fall amid the state's legal challenge of one Southern California school district's forced outing policy and calls from educators to tweak its language. Ward used the gut-and-amend approach to rewrite his AB 1955 to insert the ban on the forced outing of LGBTQ pupils unless state public school officials felt doing so was needed to protect the youth from self-harm.
At a news conference for the bill's rollout, one transgender youth spoke about how several of his queer friends were harassed at home and at their Northern California school, leading them to attempt suicide, after being outed by their principal.
"The sad truth is, not every kid has a safe home or a safe person to confide in as they figure out who they are," said Kai, 20, adding that the sixth-grade teacher he came out to when he attended the Rocklin Unified School District "showed the discretion" he needed with being able to also come out to his parents. "Without my teacher, I would not be here today. Please don't let another kid endure the heartbreaking consequences of that support system being taken away."
Ward's bill, titled the SAFETY Act for Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today's Youth Act, sailed through the Legislature. It was presented to Newsom on July 3 for him to either sign it or veto it.
"Politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary, and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California," stated Ward. "While some school districts have adopted policies to forcibly out students, the SAFETY Act ensures that discussions about gender identity remain a private matter within the family. As a parent, I urge all parents to talk to their children, listen to them, and love them unconditionally for who they are."
In a rare instance of its applying pressure on Newsom regarding legislation, the statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Equality California had asked its supporters over the last several weeks to contact the governor and urge him to sign AB 1955 into law.
"LGBTQ+ youth across California can now have these important family conversations when they are ready and in ways that strengthen the relationship between parent and child, not as a result of extremist politicians intruding into the parent-child relationship," stated Tony Hoang, a gay man who is executive director of EQCA. "This critical legislation strengthens protections for LGBTQ+ youth against forced outing policies, provides resources for parents and families of LGBTQ+ students to support them as they have conversations on their terms, and creates critical safeguards to prevent retaliation against teachers and school staff who foster a safe and supportive school environment for all students."
EQCA thanked Newsom for signing the bill.
"We are grateful to Governor Newsom for demonstrating his unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ+ community by signing the SAFETY Act into law," Hoang stated.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond was also a strong backer of the bill. He and his office have forcefully pushed back against seeing local school districts adopt policies requiring the forced outing of students, especially those who are trans or gender-nonconforming.
His office has released warnings to school officials that the policies violate state laws protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination. And Thurmond has shown up at school board meetings to speak against the policies, leading to his rejection from one proceeding before the Chino Valley Unified School Board last summer.
"All of our students deserve to be safe at school in order to learn and thrive. Our LGBTQ+ youth need to be protected from bullying and harassment at school, and the families of our LGBTQ+ youth deserve privacy and dignity to handle deeply personal matters at home, without the forced intervention of school employees," stated Thurmond, who is seeking to succeed Newsom as governor in 2026. "Our teachers can now focus on teaching the critical academic skills that our students need to succeed, not on policing the gender identities of children."
Another backer of the bill had been California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who successfully sued the Chino Valley school district to block its enforcement of its outing policy. The school board rescinded it in March after the San Bernardino County Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction order against it carrying out the transphobic policy.
Yet, because school officials have continued to say the policy is needed, Bonta is now seeking a final judgment to ensure the district cannot adopt it in the future. During a June 20 Zoom call with LGBTQ journalists, as the B.A.R. reported, Bonta said, "We need an order statewide that enjoins such policies from being implemented."
There are at least seven pending lawsuits filed in either state or federal court pertaining to the outing policies. Some seek to overturn those already adopted by school boards; others were filed by parents or school employees in support of seeing their schools implement the policies.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, eight states in the past four years have enacted laws requiring school officials to out transgender students to their families. An additional five states have laws promoting the outing of transgender youth in schools but do not require it, according to the nonprofit think tank.
As for Ward's bill, Bonta earlier this year had said that "the SAFETY Act reaffirms students' constitutional and statutory rights and makes it clear that forced outing policies and any form of retaliation against teachers, parents, and allies are a clear violation of our state's constitution."
The SAFETY Act supersedes any outing policies adopted by school districts and makes them null and void. The bill also includes a provision protecting teachers who oppose such policies from retaliation by school district officials.
School employees are still allowed to disclose a student being LGBTQ to their parents or guardians if they believe it will benefit a pupil experiencing a mental health issue because of their being LGBTQ. They can also do so if they believe the pupil is at risk to themselves or others and should be provided with additional support or services than what the school can offer them.
AB 1955 will take effect January 1.
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