After winning a procedural victory against California’s secret gender-transition school policies at the U.S. Supreme Court in spring 2026, the parents in Mirabelli v. Bonta are now pursuing their constitutional claims in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On September 1, 2026, Defending Education and the Manhattan Institute filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief supporting the parents.
The brief explains that most children with gender dysphoria come to accept their biological sex by adulthood, but children who are socially transitioned, by using new names and pronouns at school, for example, are more likely to go on to puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery, which carry serious risks. Because social transition is a mental-health intervention, not a neutral act, it falls within parents’ fundamental right to guide their children’s health care. Schools that transition children without their parents’ knowledge or consent violate that right.
Read the full amicus brief below:
Case developments
Defending Education Joins Other Organizations in Brief Requesting Emergency Relief From SCOTUS on “Secret Transitions” Policy in California