Mirabelli v. Bonta

The Liberty Justice Center is at the forefront of defending parental notice and transparency in California schools and is again advocating for parental rights to be protected.

The fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children is deeply rooted in American tradition and essential to liberty. Yet California public schools have adopted “social transition” policies that require staff to facilitate a student’s change in name or pronouns while intentionally withholding that information from parents—even when parents explicitly object. These policies sideline parents from critical decisions affecting their children’s mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing, and in some cases have led to devastating consequences.

When schools condition a child’s education on parents’ willingness to surrender their authority over their children’s upbringing, fundamental constitutional rights are violated. The government cannot force teachers to deceive parents, nor can it claim ultimate authority over what is best for children regarding their gender identity. Parents—not school administrators—are the legal guardians of their children and have both the right and responsibility to be informed about significant developments at school.

The Liberty Justice Center supports Mirabelli v. Bonta, an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to vacate the Ninth Circuit’s stay and reinstate a district court injunction protecting parental rights and religious liberty. The brief argues that the right to direct a child’s upbringing belongs to all parents, not just those who can claim religious exemptions.

In this case, Christian middle-school teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West were denied religious exemptions from an Escondido Union School District policy that required them to use one set of pronouns at school and a different set when communicating with parents. The district circulated internal lists identifying “transitioning” students, their preferred names and pronouns, and whether parents were aware. Since Ms. Mirabelli and Ms. West claimed religious exception, the school directed the teachers to refer parent inquiries to administrators who would refuse to disclose information without the student’s consent.

Since its original filing the lawsuit has expanded into a class action including parents John and Jane Poe and Jane and John Doe. The Poe family was unaware for nearly a year that their junior-high daughter was being treated as a male at school. They only learned the truth after their daughter attempted suicide. Even after transferring her to another public school and expressly requesting notice of her gender expression, the school refused. The Doe family faced similar deception, with multiple teachers lying to conceal that their daughter had been socially transitioned as early as fifth grade.

“This case is not about denying help to children. It is about who gets to help them, and whether that help happens in the light or behind closed doors,” says Rob Cowburn, Senior Counsel for Education Freedom at the Liberty Justice Center. “A system that requires secrecy from parents is a system that knows it cannot survive scrutiny. Parents still have a voice. But courts must remember that the Constitution was not written to protect the state from families—it was written to protect families from the state.”

The Liberty Justice Center is at the forefront of defending parental notice and transparency in California schools. Our work includes successfully defending the Chino Valley Unified School District’s parental notification policy in California v. Chino Valley Unified School District; challenging AB 1955, the state law that bans parental-notification policies statewide, in Chino Valley Unified School District v. Newsom; and representing the Rocklin Unified School District against a state-filed writ of mandate in California Department of Education v. Rocklin Unified School District.

LJC’s advocacy is further supported by the expertise of Dr. Erica E. Anderson, a transgender clinical psychologist with over 45 years of experience counseling children and adolescents on gender-identity-related issues. In amicus briefs filed in Littlejohn v. School Board of Leon County, Heaps v. Delaware Valley Regional High School Board of Education, and Regino v. Staley, LJC and Dr. Anderson have emphasized that proper care for children experiencing gender incongruence requires the active involvement of their parents. Children do not belong to the government, and it is in their best interest that parents remain the primary directors of their education and wellbeing.