Across the country, parents must fight with their children’s schools to obtain basic information about their children. They shouldn’t have to. Thomas More Society is fighting in federal court to end dangerous Parental Exclusion Policies that threatens children’s safety, parents’ rights, and the First Amendment rights of all.

Thomas More Society’s federal lawsuit challenging Parental Exclusion Policies, Mirabelli v. Olson, began with two brave teachers standing up to their school district. Now, this federal lawsuit is expanding, with the hope of becoming a class-action lawsuit that will protect all parents, and all teachers affected by these radical mandates.

Recently, in August 2024, a federal judge has greenlit the addition of parents to the lawsuit—who must stay anonymous for the safety and privacy of their children. Their heart wrenching experiences put on full display the danger of these unconstitutional Parental Exclusion Policies.

“...The first time anyone had told us.”

“Jane Poe” and her husband tried to obtain information from their daughter’s school and teachers when their daughter was hospitalized after she attempted to take her own life. They were met with a cold and callous response: “We cannot share the gender identity of the student with the parent even if that gender identity is openly expressed in class.”

“None of the teachers mentioned to us that she was presenting as a different gender at school...,” “Poe” said, “[But] on September 6, 2023, our daughter attempted suicide… for the next week, my husband and I were distraught as we tried to figure out what had been going on… A doctor at [the hospital] told us that our daughter was identifying as a boy, which is the first time anyone had told us.”

Tragically, experiences like what happened to the “Poe’s” and their daughter are becoming more and more common. And that’s partly because these schemes of deception are mandated in over 18,600 schools across the county—covering over 11 million students.

But there is hope. Brave teachers and parents like Thomas More Society’s plaintiffs in Mirabelli v. Olson are leading the charge in the battle for our nation’s children and the protection of their innocence, safety, and wellbeing.

Taking a stand

Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, two Christian middle school teachers from Escondido Union School District in southern California, love teaching and the students they work with. They have many years of experience working with young children, as EUSD is a K-8 school district. When EUSD started implementing a series of Parental Exclusion Policies, they quickly became concerned.

These radical policies force teachers to “use pronouns or a gender-specific name requested by a student,” while “reverting to biological pronouns and legal names when speaking with parents.” That didn’t sit well with Elizabeth and Lori, who are also practicing Christians who believe Biblical teachings on gender and sexuality. By implementing such policies, school districts are boxing parents out and forcing elementary and middle school teachers to deceive parents about their own children.

So, they decided to take a stand. With the help of Thomas More Society, they sued their school district and the California Department of Education to stop the enforcement of these policies. And a federal judge sided with them, calling Parental Exclusion Policies a “trifecta of harm.”

Parental Exclusion Policies affect teachers, but they, by definition, primarily affect parents. While this court order only protects Elizabeth and Lori, Thomas More Society is still fighting to win protection for all teachers and parents.

In the newest development in the case, Thomas More Society is pushing to turn the case into a class action lawsuit—in order to win blanket protect for all those affected, and to stop Parental Exclusion Policies once and for all. In another groundbreaking move, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez has now allowed parents to join the case as plaintiffs fighting Parental Exclusion Policies and added California Attorney General Rob Bonta as a defendant in the case—because Bonta has been at the top of the spear in this push for radical gender ideology in California.