Supreme Court blocks California schools from hiding students’ gender identity from their parents

March 3, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a California public school policy requiring teachers to withhold information from parents about whether their children identify as transgender at school.

The Christian Post reports that the high court, in a 6-3 per curiam opinion released Monday evening, sided with parents who had opposed the policy for various reasons, including religious objections.

Yesterday’s ruling allows an injunction from a federal judge against the requirement to withhold gender identity information from parents unless the child consents to into go into effect after an appeals court had put the judge’s ruling on hold.

The high court ruled that parents seeking religious exemptions “are likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim,” and noted that “California’s policies likely trigger strict scrutiny under that provision because they substantially interfere with the ‘right of parents to guide the religious development of their children.'”

According to the Christian Post, the court’s opinion concluded that the secrecy policy was an “intrusion on parents’ free exercise rights,” namely, those parents who hold religious objections to LGBT ideology.

The per curiam opinion stated: “The State argues that its policies advance a compelling interest in student safety and privacy. But those policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents,” adding, “The State’s interest in safety could be served by a policy that allows religious exemptions while precluding gender-identity disclosure to parents who would engage in abuse.”

The opinion further clarified that, “The right protected by these precedents includes the right not to be shut out of participation in decisions regarding their children’s mental health.”

The Thomas More Society, a legal organization that representeed the parents and teachers, called the Supreme Court’s ruling the “most significant parental rights ruling in a generation.”

Thomas More Society special counsel Paul M. Jonna said, “The Court’s landmark reaffirmation of substantive due process, its vindication of religious liberty, and its approval of class-wide relief together set a historic precedent that will dismantle secret gender transition policies across the country.”

Photo: top, Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images