Federal hearing for Escondido teacher's lawsuit involving gender identity disclosure in schools

SAN DIEGO — Whether or not parents should know about their child's preferred gender identity in school made its way through federal court in San Diego today.

Two Escondido middle school teachers are suing the Escondido Unified School District and the California Department of Education for a policy prohibiting teachers from discussing students' gender identity with parents if the student expresses they don’t want their parents to know.

Attorneys for the two Escondido teachers argued in the Southern District of California federal court that the school district’s policy to keep their student’s preferred gender identity from parents violates their constitutional rights and asked for a preliminary injunction against the rule.

Across the state, school boards are following the California Department of Education’s guidelines that if a student K through 8th grade doesn’t want their parent to know about their preferred identity, teachers cannot tell their parents.

“We need to have a partnership and keep them informed on the progress and concerns. We are their eyes and ears throughout the day,” said the plaintiff Elizabeth Maribelli.

She is a 7th-grade English teacher at Rincon Middle School. She and 8th-grade PE teacher Lori West are suing the Escondido Unified School District and the CDE over its parental exclusion involving gender identity policy.

They claim this policy violates their free speech and free exercise.

“A concerning issue is that I am a PE teacher and have kids dressing in the opposite locker room, and that affects all the other kids and none of the other kids are informed this is happening,” said West.

In court, the attorneys for the Escondido Unified School District argued the policy is about protecting the child’s safety if the parent does not support the gender identity, and they fear losing funding from the state if they reject the guidelines. The district declined to comment, but a trans advocate says telling parents may be harmful.

“Undoing these policies is creating distress for these students because it’s creating homelessness and creating food insecurity and creating an unsafe space for them,” said Angelle Maua, The Gender Phluid Collective.

However, the attorney for the teachers says this is lying to parents, and it creates more harm.

“This directly violates their faith to deceive parents and show an example to kids, it’s ok, as important as this is, to keep from parents,” said Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society's special counsel.

The federal judge hasn’t ruled but consistently told the court, in part, that children are too young to make that decision and parents have the right to know.

The California Department of Education declined to comment.

The judge did not give a date when he’d rule on a preliminary injunction.

WATCH RELATED: Two Escondido teachers sue the district over gender-identity policies