Justices rule for union and in favor of trans student rights

Students from Great Oak High School hold pride flags and trans flags at Pat Birdsall Sports Park after walking out of school in protest of the Temecula school district policy requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender, on Sept. 22, 2023.| Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Orange County Register via AP

AUBURN, Calif.—A small National Education Association union local, the Placer County (Calif.) Teachers Association (PCTA), won a big deal pro-trans rights ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court on June 1. It triumphed against a local school board that demanded teachers “out” trans kids.

Without comment, the justices denied the appeal of the Rocklin Unified School District board, backed by far-right groups, defending its decision to force teachers to out trans kids to their parents. Placer County is a 400,000-person mostly rural county, part of the greater Sacramento Metro Area, but stretching all the way to Lake Tahoe.

The PCTA had challenged the ruling and lost, 4-1, the day after a contentious four-hour school board hearing in September 2023 on the outing rule. The board’s four Republicans voted to out the trans kids. The one independent, moderate Michelle Sutherland, voted “no” and said her colleagues engaged in “fringe political aims.”

“You should be ashamed for even discussing this policy,” local union President Travis Mougeotte told the school board at the evening hearing, which stretched until 12:15 a.m., the Fresno Bee reported. Most of the speakers vigorously opposed outing the trans kids. The school board majority turned a deaf ear, however, claiming it had heard from parents favoring the move.

Forcing educators to involuntarily out transgender students not only violates kids’ right to privacy in the classroom, it can expose them to numerous risks, according to social scientists. When schools mandate parental disclosure without the student’s consent, the dangers rise of violence at home, housing instability, and family rejection. Deprived of a supportive educational environment, some of these students see a profound toll on their well-being, leading to sharply increased rates of psychological distress, severe depression, and suicidal ideation.

In public testimony in Placer County, supporters of trans kids said the school board’s outing rule made many of these same points, saying it was not only discriminatory but also opened the kids to the possibility of anti-trans violence. Letters to the board ran against the outing rule, 184-22, the Bee reported.

The National Education Association, the parent union of the Placer County Teachers Association, did not immediately respond to an e-mail informing them of the win by their local. Barbara Anderson, executive director of Pride@Work, the AFL-CIO’s constituency group for LGBTQIA+ people, was elated. It came as the group prepared for its convention, June 2-4 in Minneapolis.

While the union and the trans kids lost at the school board, they won everywhere else, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. That includes the state legislature and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. They enacted a law, which took effect Jan. 1 this year, banning outing by local school systems.

After the local school board’s anti-trans ruling in 2023, the union filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board. The ULP charged the school board failed to bargain with the union beforehand about its anti-trans stand.

Before the PERB session, local union President Mougeotte issued a statement saying he was confident the state board would side with the union, as siding with the school board not only violates the state constitution but also threatens teachers’ certification.

“We are confident the PERB will agree this district’s forced outing policy violates the law,” Mougeotte stated. “The California Education Code requires educators to take an oath to support the Constitution and laws of California, and any violation places our teachers’ credentials in jeopardy of being suspended or revoked by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. A local school board does not have the authority to change or violate state laws.”

The state Public Employees Relations Board’s administrative law judge sided with the union and so did the state board, so the local school board appealed the pro-trans decision to the U.S. Supreme Court—and lost.

The High Court’s decision was timely, as the pro-trans ruling came on the first day of Pride Month.

“What began as a commemorative march surrounding the 1969 police raids of the Stonewall Inn, Pride Month has evolved into a global movement filled with opportunities for education, community-building, advocacy, celebration, and the joy of the LGBTQIA+ community,” the Communications Workers Human Rights Committee said in a statement.

“Solidarity means showing up for one another, and we are all committed to the fight because when one group is under attack, we are all under attack.”

The justices also ruled in the face of a party-line 217-198 U.S. House vote last month for an anti-trans GOP “messaging” bill, part of its “social issues” agenda. The bill, HR2616, would use the lever of federal rules to order local schools to out trans kids.

That measure, which has little chance of Senate approval, is more red meat for the GOP’s MAGA base. As might be expected, it came out of the ideologically polarized House Education and the Workforce Committee, sponsored by panel chair Rep. Denny Walberg, R-Mich., on May 21, on a party-line vote.

“Many schools are engaged in systematic attempts to erode parental rights,” Walberg alleged then. “Schools are facilitating gender transitions or encouraging students to change their names and pronouns without telling parents.”

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CONTRIBUTOR

Mark Gruenberg

Award-winning journalist Mark Gruenberg is head of the Washington, D.C., bureau of People's World. He is also the editor of the union news service Press Associates Inc. (PAI). Known for his reporting skills, sharp wit, and voluminous knowledge of history, Mark is a compassionate interviewer but tough when going after big corporations and their billionaire owners.