Junior high teacher in-service claims biological sex is a spectrum, ‘outing’ LGBTQ students to parents violates privacy laws.

A recent junior high teacher in-service presentation focused on LGBTQ+ issues featured a slide stating that “biological Sex is a spectrum.” As part of the “Why Creating LGBTQ+ Safe Space Matters” professional development, teachers at Canyon Hills Junior High in Chino Valley Unified School District were also instructed that revealing a student’s gender identity to parents without permission violates a student’s privacy rights.

A training slide titled “When Parents Object” states that under the “California and U.S. Constitutions, we have a protected right to privacy, which includes the right to keep your sexual orientation, gender identity or that you are transgender private.” It continues by explaining that even if a student is “out” at school but not at home, they can “reasonably expect that they’re [parents] not going to find out.” The slide concludes by adding that “being open about your sexuality in school doesn’t mean you automatically give up your right to privacy outside school.”

Another slide lists “homosexual,” “sexual preference,” “lifestyle” and “TERF and Gender Critical” as “outdated words.” It explains that “homosexual” is an “outdated clinical term considered derogatory and offensive.” The slide also states that “TERF and Gender Critical” are terms used to “describe anti-trans activists who seek to exclude trans women from women’s spaces. The term TERF is an acronym for “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.” It lists JK Rowling as an example of a TERF.

The presentation states that people are “lucky to live in California, where laws are among the most progressive in the country.” It continues by stating that public, charter, and non-religious schools “must respect a transgender or gender non-conforming student’s gender identity and/or expression,” including “calling them by their chosen name and gender pronouns.” It also includes “providing access to sex-segregated spaces such as restrooms and locker rooms” that correspond to a student’s “gender identity.”

Also included is a slide that shares a first day of school idea, which involves an information card asking for a student’s pronouns and whether those pronouns can be used when contacting home or when speaking to other teachers. It even asks if the student wishes to have a private conversation regarding pronouns.