PJI Announces New Resource for Parents to Fight Back Against Bathroom Bill

Sacramento, CA–With parents in an uproar over Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision this week to sign into law a highly controversial bill that allows students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based only on their self-proclaimed “gender identity,” the Pacific Justice Institute is announcing a new resource designed to help parents combat the effects of the bill.

PJI attorneys, who led the opposition to the bill in the Legislature, have drafted and are now offering at no charge to the public a “Notice of Reasonable Expectation of Privacy.”  The Notice, similar to others already required to be issued to parents, covers a range of privacy interests, including not only students’ privacy interests in bathroom and locker rooms, but also strip searches, personal beliefs, disclosure of grades, and biometric data concerns that have been raised by critics of the newly-implemented Common Core educational standards.

The Notice, which is based on constitutional privacy rights as well as specific state and federal statutes, is designed to cover a few of parents’ key concerns with student privacy in the educational context.  It is intended for parents to sign and submit to school officials. 

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, explained, “Throughout the debate over AB 1266, we were alarmed by the dismissive attitude of legislators and LGBT activists toward the privacy rights of the 99.5% of students who are not transgender.  The school bathroom bill, which attempts to force students to undress and share intimate spaces with members of the opposite biological sex, cannot and does not override constitutional privacy rights.  The start of the school year is a good time for parents to remind school officials that their children have not relinquished those pre-existing privacy rights in this or other highly personal areas.”

AB 1266 is a misguided bill, and this Notice will not resolve all problems related to it.  PJI fully expects court battles in the near future over the bill.  “The school bathroom bill is on a collision course with the Constitution,” noted PJI staff attorney Matthew McReynolds, one of the drafters of the Notice.  “We urge parents to contact us immediately when they become aware that a self-proclaimed transgender student is violating their child’s privacy rights.”

More details are available at www.PJI.org and www.GenderInsanity.com.  The Notice is also being posted in a separate version for use by parents outside California.   

Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit legal organization dedicated to defending religious, parental, and other constitutional rights.