On Monday, March 2, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of plaintiffs Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West in the case Mirabelli v. Bonta. This decision allows schools to “out” transgender students, revealing their gender identity to family members without permission.
Mirabelli v. Bonta began when the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act was passed in 2024 by California’s state legislature. This law prevented teachers from outing trans students, regardless of parents’ religious beliefs.
California teachers Mirabelli and West were against this law. They sued California, claiming that the SAFETY Act violated parents’ religious freedom. The Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm, worked with Mirabelli and West as the case advanced to the Supreme Court. Ultimately, SCOTUS justices sided against the SAFETY Act. This decision threatens to undo California’s anti-outing protections for trans students.
Gable Fialkov, a 10th grader in SAS, called this ruling “catastrophic” for many trans youth. “Sometimes when kids are trans and they come from unsupporting families, them being outed can be catastrophic for them,” Fialkov said, “because [being out] just ends up really negatively for them and they can be kicked out, they can be abused.”
Fewer than a third of trans youth live in affirming households, and outing is correlated with increased depressive symptoms and lower familial support.
Some students were surprised by the way Mirabelli v. Bonta targeted California, a deep blue state that’s relatively safe for queer people.
HGM senior Charlotte Christman similarly called the ruling “jarring.” “There was always this sense of safety net within California, and [we’re] seeing that be disrupted,” Christman reflected.
Fialkov echoed Christman’s sense of lost safety. Fialkov said, “I feel safer because I live in California, but I’m scared if I go anywhere else and try to be myself.” Conservative states have recently enacted severe transphobic laws. For instance, in March, West Virginia began forcing trans people to only use ID aligned with their sex as assigned at birth.
The Supreme Court has also made a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ rulings. In June, the Supreme Court allowed Tennessee to deny minors gender-affirming care in U.S. v. Skrmetti. Later that same month, the Supreme Court also allowed parents to pull their children from lessons featuring LGBTQ+ books in Mahmoud v. Taylor.
Together, Mirabelli v. Bonta and other bigoted policies fit into the same disturbing trend: transphobia is on the rise.
As trans youth are put in increasing danger, trans students want LAUSD’s explicit support. This means more vocal support for the LGBTQ+ community, both in concrete policy and in visibility campaigns.
Since 2024, LAUSD’s nondiscrimination policy “Gender Identity and Students: Ensuring Equity and Nondiscrimination,” or BUL-6224.3, has protected trans students from forced outings. In the wake of the Mirabelli v. Bonta ruling, it’s unclear whether this policy will remain.
Still, Fialkov also believed that even before Mirabelli v. Bonta, nondiscrimination policies like BUL-6224.3 were not adequately enforced. “I think [these policies are] just sort of a thing on paper,” they said. “I feel like [nondiscrimination policies] should be more enforced so that even if you don’t agree with a student or with a colleague or whatever, you should have to respect them.” Current policies, in Fialkov’s experience, aren’t doing enough to respect and protect trans students.
Trans students also expressed the need for more support from school staff.
“I would like to see more verbal support,” Christman said. “I support the campaigns by LAUSD that say ‘we protect our immigrant students, we support our immigrant students,’ and I would like to see a similar vocal support towards the trans and LGBTQ community.”
LAUSD has implemented this kind of support for marginalized groups in the past. Since 2013, OUT for Safe Schools has encouraged staff to wear rainbow badges that show LGBTQ+ allyship. UTLA, the teachers’ union, has also used posters and online statements to express support for immigrants throughout ongoing ICE activity. OUT for Safe Schools and UTLA’s pro-immigrant work could serve as models for a pro-trans advocacy program within LAUSD.
SCOTUS’s Mirabelli v. Bonta ruling is a significant blow to trans students’ protections at school. Throughout this increasing bigotry, though, LAUSD can better protect trans students with stronger, more visible nondiscrimination policies.
