California ordered to pay $4.5M in gender secrecy school policy case

California was dealt another blow in a lawsuit over gender secrecy policies in schools when a federal judge ordered the state this week to pay the plaintiffs in the case $4.5 million in taxpayer-funded legal fees.

Judge Roger Benitez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, scolded state lawyers in his order for what he said was an “unusual” spree of court motions that forced the parents and teachers who brought the lawsuit to respond to California’s “litigation intransigence.”

The lawsuit challenged California’s SAFETY Act, which blocked schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student sought to change their gender identity or pronouns. The Supreme Court rejected the policy in March and jurisdictions with similar policies have subsequently been hit with legal threats to repeal them. 

Benitez also tacked on added financial penalties, in addition to the legal fees reimbursement, to reach the $4.5 million figure because the case concerned a “very important subject,” he said.

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“State public education policies impinged on families’ right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment. The policies also rejected and subverted the federal constitutional rights of California parents to guide the health and well-being of their school-age children,” Benitez wrote. “Such concerns intrude among the most important areas of family life in America’s history and tradition.”

The lawsuit, brought against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, had argued that the state imposed an unconstitutional policy on schools that blocked teachers and staff from informing parents if their child wanted to change their gender.

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The Supreme Court sided with the parents in a 6-3 emergency order, saying California’s policy, which blocked what critics described as schools’ “forced outing” of students, was likely unconstitutional.

The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group, represented the plaintiffs in the case and recently warned a school district in New Jersey that it would begin legal action if the school district did not repeal a similar policy on transgender students.

“This is just the beginning,” Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president, told Fox News Digital of its warning to the Westwood Regional School Board. “This is not an end, but a beginning, our big win in the Supreme Court. We are already fielding requests from other parents across the country, and we anticipate sending a lot more demand letters, unfortunately.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Bonta’s office for comment.