Tony Thurmond: Well, let's address why these districts are taking these actions that clearly a court has said is inappropriate. It is because they don't care about the needs of students, and their cloaking this as a parents rights issue. But that's not the case. Let's just face it. There's no need for any of these policies, because no one is saying that parents and students can't talk about a student's gender identity. I'm a parent, and I support parents, right. And the reality is that these are policies that are mean, mean spirited, intended to hurt students. My office has provided guidance on how these policies fall outside of the law. My office is investigating allegations of discriminatory practices by some of the school districts that are exploring these policies. And I'm grateful that the attorney general has taken action to bring a lawsuit. Our office will be submitting an amicus brief showing that these actions of these school board members fall outside of the law as it relates to privacy for students in their sexual identity.’
Madison Aument: So how do you respond to parents that say, this is a parental rights issue and that they have a right to know how their child identifies at school?
I think the answer is it is true. Parents do have a right to know all things about their kids. And that's not at issue here. But the school board majorities are manipulating the conversation to make it look like if you don't pass these policies, your rights will be taken away. This is an important moment. And we have to stand up and call it what it is. It is a political attack that is attempting to promote bigotry and attempting to take away the rights of LGBTQ plus students. And we won't stand for it.
Okay, so taking a step back. Why did you decide this as a state issue rather than a local issue?
I only showed up at a school district board meeting because students in Chino Valley asked me to show up, they told me that they were afraid. They were afraid of what the policy meant, and how it would impact them negatively. I believe deeply in local control. But local control does not give you the right to threaten or intimidate anyone, especially our students. So when any district structure violates the values and the principles of local control, then this is a place where there may need to be state intervention. We have to stand up and assert that there should be civility, that there should be following the law. And we're trying to offset the harm as a result of these policies.
So in districts that do have these transgender notification policies in place still, what is the state telling teachers to do? Should they follow their district's rules and tell parents if their child is transgender, even if it puts them at odds with the state?
At this point, there is no directive that we can provide. And we're looking into the situation and each situation is different. Our focus right now is providing clarity and law where we can and if necessary legislation to make sure that there's clarity about the rights of our students. as there's any new updates about districts that are already enacting these policies, we'll keep you updated. My question to them is, how do they intend to enforce these policies? They're asking teachers to now somehow police something that is so personal, as a person's sexual orientation. How are teachers supposed to know what they're supposed to report? And what they're not supposed to report? That feeling confusion already. I've heard these reports. These policies are not only not necessary, but untenable and difficult to implement.
So what's the next step that you or other state officials will take or are considering to address these transgender notification policies?
The most important thing is that there's a lawsuit underway. Our office will be providing an amicus brief, to also spell out our support for the lawsuit and the principles of law that are at play that we believe articulate why students have some privacy as it relates to their sexual orientation.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.