Turning Point USA

A California mom is suing her daughter’s school district after it was revealed that the school was following a “parental secrecy policy” to socially transition her daughter without parental consent.

California resident Aurora Regino stated that her 11-year-old daughter was being socially transitioned from female to male by her elementary school in the Chico Unified School District behind her back. Regino spoke at a school board meeting where she explained that her daughter told the school guidance counselor she wanted to tell her mom about her new identity, but the school ignored her request.

“During one of the meetings, my daughter told the counselor she wanted to tell me about her new identity. They ignored her request and did nothing to support her in letting me know what was going on at school.”

California mother Aurora Regino

The school district’s “parental secrecy policy” is implemented at every grade level from preschoolers to senior-year high school students. The school board recently voted to allow “more parental inclusion” between parents and counselors, but the measure failed by a 3-2 vote.

California state law gives students “protection” from their parents for issues related to gender identity. California’s Department of Education states that the “compliance officer may discuss with the student any need to disclose the student’s transgender or gender-nonconformity status or gender identity or gender expression to the student’s parents/guardians.”

Traditionally, “secrecy policies” were created with the intent to protect children from abuse at home. But to many on the left, parents who deny their children “gender-affirming care” are committing abuse. It is for this reason that they justify keeping that information hidden from parents.

But we know the opposite to be true. By all available data, telling young children that they can transition into the opposite gender, which does not match physical reality, will only set them up for a lifetime of confusion and mental health conditions.

Just last year, the Heritage Foundation asked a California mother to share her heartbreaking experience with public education in the state, which lead to the death of her daughter. The mother, Abigail Martinez, explained that her daughter was always a “girlie girl,” but became depressed while in middle school after being bullied. When her daughter reached high school, Martinez asked school counselors to look after her daughter, which they did, by convincing her that her depression was a result of a gender identity crisis.

After Martinez refused to acknowledge her daughter’s new “male identity,” and requested a more holistic approach, the school contacted the Department of Children and Family Services and had her daughter forcibly removed from her home. “She was not even close to a tomboy … she was the girlie girl in the house,” Martinez said. She spent several months in court pleading with the judge to require a full psychological evaluation, which was denied. She was also denied access to her daughter.

An LGBT group present at her daughter’s school encouraged the now 16-year-old to undergo a medical transition, insisting that the state of California would cover the expenses. After months of “help” from social workers, the state, public school counselors, and LGBT volunteers, Martinez’s daughter committed suicide.

“I want everyone to know the truth because it didn’t have to happen,” Martinez explained. “I don’t want this to happen to any other family or to go through all this pain. There’s a lot of pain.”

It shouldn’t have to be said, but adults at public schools should not have the ability to keep secrets about a minor regarding that child’s mental or emotional health, especially when they are of a sexual nature or pertain to sexual preferences. Parents have a right to know everything their child is doing at school, and nothing short of full transparency is acceptable. Parents need to speak out and punish schools that come between them and their children — the situation is too dire to stand idly by.