California once again seeks to lead our nation into Orwell’s world of 1984 by gradually eroding individualism through State control of thought, morality, and action. Years ago a well-known political figure stated “It takes a village” to raise a child, and by that she meant not the community in toto but the village elders who would decide what was best for that child regardless of the wishes of the individual’s family. Family was, of course, to become an obsolete anachronism, much as foreseen by Marx and Engels, encouraged by Germany’s National Socialists, and formally enacted by the Soviets and the CCP. Progress in making future generations instinctively subservient to the state via the downgrading of a mandatorily exclusive public education system has been slower that desired. Thus the purposes of schools have been expanded dramatically in the last sixty years, first to provide adequate nutrition to all (inarguably a noble intent), and then to gradually infiltrate other functions of family units distracted by the need for two incomes or the governmentally enhanced absence of one parent. As government schools forbid the free exercise of religion or other moral traditions by and for their students, they replaced these foundational activities with school counseling. That grew into broader recognition of psychological distress that might be present, and independent school actions beyond parental notification and monitoring. That recognition has now morphed into intervention. That intervention is now empowered by the newly discovered epidemic of gender dysphoria and the newly uncovered civil rights of minors independent of their family or parents but to be diagnosed, treated, guarded and enforced by the State via the schools. The school authorities are accountable to State authority, not parents, for these functions and outcomes.
Just as parental responsibility for their children is no longer desirable, so Jeffersonian local democracy is no longer acceptable. Centralized authority by the State over all individuals must aggrandize. First those individuals must be broken loose from their attachments of community and family. Those most easily “freed” are the children. One local California school district has attempted to retain family and parental responsibility and power. California’s Attorney General says the State will dictate. His intents and actions are clearly revealed in the Associated Press article published today in the Ventura County Star and many other newspapers. My answer follows.
GENDER IDENTITY
Calif. investigates school district’s policy
AG says parental notification risks bullying, self-harm
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO – California’s attorney general said Friday he was investigating whether a local school 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. Rob Bonta said the policy, approved by the Chino Valley Unified School District in July, could force schools to “out” their students, increasing a student’s risk of being bullied or committing self-harm or suicide.
The policy also requires parents to be notified within three days if their child asked for access to gender-based sports or wants to use a different bathroom or changing rooms that do not match their assigned gender at birth.
“Students should never fear going to school for simply being who they are,” Bonta said in a statement, adding that the “forced outing policy threatens the safety and well-being of
LGBTQ+ students vulnerable to harassment and potential abuse from peers and family members unaccepting of their gender identity.”
He added: “California will not stand for violations of our students’ civil rights.”
The school district board president said state officials are “overstepping their boundaries.”
“This is a ploy to try to scare all the other boards across California from adopting the policy,” Sonjia Shaw said in a statement to The Associated Press. “I won’t back down and will stand in the gap to protect our kids from big government bullies.”
A spokesperson for the school district said that Bonta did not notify them about the investigation. The board has argued that parents have the right to know. The school district is about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.
Bonta’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking more details about the investigation.
The school board adopted the policy following a heated hearing that drew a crowd of a few hundred people, including state Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, who spoke out against the proposal and was escorted out of the meeting. Bonta sent a letter to the district in July warning the policy could be in violation of students’ rights.
The policy mirrors failed legislation, introduced by a state Republican lawmaker this year, that would have required California school districts to notify parents if a child is publicly identifying as a gender different from the one on their birth certificate.
The local policy was passed as students across the country see hundreds of bills introduced this year taking aim at nearly every facet transgender existence, from health care to athletics to bathroom access. There are at least a dozen proposals introduced in various states to push for more parental rights by requiring schools to alert parents of gender identity changes in most circumstances.
While some parents and teachers argue they have a right to know, others warn it could jeopardize the mental health and physical safety of gendernonconforming children and place educators in the crosshairs.
To the Editor;
California’s Attorney General has openly declared that our children are legal and moral wardens of the government. By intervening in Chino Valley Unified School District’s local control policies that parents must be notified within three days of any child’s requests regarding changing any aspects of their biological gender, that district affirms the primacy of parental guardianship and custodiality over their own minor family members. Mr. Bonta now seeks to remove that age-old traditional and legal status by administrative fiat. In so doing he would violate the “due process” clause of the Constitution, and in some families’ cases violating their First Amendment right of “free exercise” of their religion. He may also violate the Fourth Amendment, by “seizing” control of that child’s life without probable cause supported by Oath or affirmation before a court. Minors are not endowed historically or by law with the power of legal consent for any medical or psychological care, unless formally emancipated by a court. Nor may the state take control of a minor without legal proceedings that provide for parental confrontation of their accusers. School officials’ failure to notify parents of significant physical, social, educational, or psychological difficulties is negligence of their duties to child and parent and renders them liable for consequences. Choosing to do so as a legal state mandate envisioned by Mr. Bonta criminally violates those duties. Gender dysphoria is not a fixed physical developmental disorder but a psychological disorder probably temporary according to empirical scientific research. Minors cannot give legal consent to treatment of either; neither should be hidden from a child’s parents unless their legal guardianship has been lawfully removed.
As stated so emphatically in the recent film “The Sound of Freedom”, our children are not for sale. Even to our government.