California lawmakers submitted legislation Friday aimed toward protecting children from gender ideology indoctrination in schools and upholding parental rights.
Republican state Assemblymember Bill Essayli announced a bill that would amend the state’s education code to base sports participation and the use of bathrooms and locker rooms in schools on the immutable characteristic of sex rather than gender ideology. Assemblymember Leticia Castillo also introduced a bill that would allow parents to opt their children out of any lessons on gender ideology, and proposed a separate bill that would prohibit judges from considering medical and social transitioning to be in the best interest of a gender-confused child during custody disputes and would prevent parents from being considered abusive or neglectful for refusing to transition their child.
“I hope we restore common sense in our schools,” Essayli told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I hope we have places again where girls feel comfortable to change without having to worry if there’s a boy in the locker room or that they have to share space with a boy. I hope girls feel confident in competing in sports again and not having to worry about whether they’re going to be booted off the team as a boy shows up and runs a faster time, and I want girls to be excited and proud of their accomplishments and be able not just to compete, but to be champions in sports. That’s the vision that we should all share and want for our girls here in California and around the nation.”
U.S. President Donald Trump joined by women athletes signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump has worked to drive gender ideology concepts out of American life, declaring the federal recognition of only two genders, banning federal funds from going towards the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children and prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports.
Essayli told the DCNF the landscape even in California has changed since Trump returned to office. (RELATED: Virginia Residents Ask School To Overlook Trans Sex Offender Caught Naked In Girls’ Locker Room To Keep Gender Policy)
“It almost feels as though the energy has been sucked out of their movements as a result of this last election,” Essayli told the DCNF. “I think more people feel comfortable speaking on these issues now. People were afraid before. They didn’t want to be attacked or vilified for speaking on the issue.”
Current California law prohibits schools from enacting policies that would require teachers and administrators to tell a child’s parents if the child expresses interest in changing their gender.
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