Ninth Circuit Blocks California's Gender-Secrecy Law, Citing Supreme Court Precedent in Mirabelli v. Bonta

This Ninth Circuit decision is a major legal setback for transgender student privacy in California, but it is not—contrary to some reporting—a direct result of Project 2025 or any enacted Trump administration policy tying Title IX funding to parental notification for preferred names or pronouns. The Supreme Court's Mirabelli v. Bonta (2026) ruling found that California's law likely violated parental rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments by forcing schools to withhold information about a child's gender transition. The Ninth Circuit relied entirely on that precedent to block AB 1955 in Huntington Beach, with potential statewide implications.

The uncertainty remains: no federal rule or executive order actually conditions Title IX dollars on parental notification for preferred names or pronouns. The January 29, 2025 executive order on 'Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling' does not contain such a provision. The mechanism for potential federal funding loss would need to come from a future Department of Education rulemaking or a new statute. Without that, the court's decision is a constitutional ruling, not a funding mandate. Advocates for trans students warn that forced disclosure will harm vulnerable youth in unsupportive homes, but the immediate fight remains at the state level over parental rights versus student privacy.