Transgender Students

Students carrying pride flags and transgender flags leave Great Oak High School on Sept. 22, 2023, in Temecula, Calif., after walking out of the school in protest of the Temecula school district policy requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender.
Students carrying pride flags and transgender flags leave Great Oak High School on Sept. 22, 2023, in Temecula, Calif., after walking out of the school in protest of the Temecula school district policy requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender. But many districts in California follow a state policy limiting when schools can inform parents about a student's gender identity without the student's consent.
Anjali Sharif-Paul/The Orange County Register via AP
Law & Courts Appeals Court Blocks Ruling Bolstering Parental Rights Over Gender Identity
A federal appeals court blocked a groundbreaking ruling over the disclosure of students' gender identities.
Mark Walsh, January 6, 2026
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4 min read
Students carrying pride and transgender flags leave Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif., on Sept. 22, 2023, after walking out of the school in protest of the Temecula school district policy requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender.
Students carrying pride and transgender flags leave Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif., on Sept. 22, 2023, after walking out of the school in protest of the Temecula school district policy requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender.
Anjali Sharif-Paul/The Orange County Register via AP
Law & Courts Appeals Court Halts Ruling Letting Teachers Disclose Students' Gender Identity
A federal appeals court has temporarily paused enforcement of the ruling but has not yet decided whether to grant a longer-term stay.
Kristen Taketa, The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2, 2026
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3 min read
Teacher’s aide Amelia Mester, wrapped in a Pride flag, urges Escondido Union High School District not to have employees notify parents if they believe a student may be transgender in November 2025. A policy on the issue in the city’s elementary school district is the subject of a federal class-action lawsuit in which a judge just sided against the district.
Teacher’s aide Amelia Mester, wrapped in a Pride flag, urges Escondido Union High School District not to have employees notify parents if they believe a student may be transgender. A policy on the issue in the city’s elementary school district is the subject of a federal class-action lawsuit in which a judge just ruled against the district.
Charlie Neuman for The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS
Law & Courts Schools Can’t Bar Teachers From Telling Parents If Kids Are Transgender, Judge Rules
The injunction bans any public school employee from misleading parents about their child’s gender presentation at school.
Kristen Taketa, The San Diego Union-Tribune, December 24, 2025
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5 min read
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones speaks to the media after arriving at the federal courthouse for a hearing in front of a bankruptcy judge on June 14, 2024, in Houston.
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones speaks to the media outside a federal courthouse on June 14, 2024, in Houston. The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear his appeal of a $1.4 billion judgment over his allegations that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., was staged.
David J. Phillip/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Again Declines a Case on School Gender Identity Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a case on purported school gender-identity policies, as well as two other education-related appeals
Mark Walsh, October 14, 2025
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5 min read
AB Hernandez, a transgender student at Jurupa Valley High School, competes in the high jump at the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, Calif., May 31, 2025.
AB Hernandez, a transgender female student at Jurupa Valley High School, competes in the high jump at the California high school track and field championships in Clovis, Calif., on May 31. The U.S. Supreme Court in its new term will consider state laws that prohibit transgender girls and women from competing in female athletics.
Jae C. Hong/AP
Law & Courts New Supreme Court Term Puts Transgender Student Rights in the Spotlight
The justices will weigh state laws that bar transgender girls from female athletics, amid other issues of interest to educators in new term
Mark Walsh, October 2, 2025
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8 min read
The Supreme Court building is seen on April 30, 2025, in Washington.
The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen on April 30, 2025, in Washington. The high court recently declined to pause a ruling allowing a South Carolina transgender student to use restrooms consistent with his gender identity.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Block Transgender Boy From Male Restrooms at School
A divided Supreme Court declined to pause an injunction blocking a South Carolina law as it applied to a transgender male student.
Mark Walsh, September 10, 2025
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2 min read
A sign for a newly-constructed gender neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School on June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan.
A sign for a newly-constructed gender neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School on June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan. The Trump administration's finding that a northern Virginia school district violated Title IX by allowing students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity is the subject of a new lawsuit.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Law & Courts School Board Sues Trump Admin. to Defend Transgender Student Policy
The lawsuit challenges the Ed. Dept.'s finding that the district violated Title IX.
Brooke Schultz, August 29, 2025
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3 min read
A newly-constructed gender neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan.
A newly-constructed gender-neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan. The Shawnee Mission school district is one of four in Kansas that the Trump administration has started investigating at the urging of the state's Republican attorney general, Kris Kobach.
Charlie Riedel/AP
States Some State Leaders Cheer as Trump's Ed. Dept. Investigates Their Schools
The use of the office for civil rights for political purposes has been dialed up in the second Trump administration, experts say.
Brooke Schultz, August 25, 2025
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6 min read
A commuter walks past the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Eduction, which were ordered closed for the day for what officials described as security reasons amid large-scale layoffs, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Washington.
A commuter walks past the Washington headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education on March 12, 2025. The department has imposed financial restrictions on five Virginia school districts for policies allowing transgender students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Federal Ed. Dept. Imposes Funding Restrictions for 5 Districts Over Transgender Policies
The districts will have to jump through extra hoops to claim their federal funds.
Brooke Schultz, August 19, 2025
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6 min read
This artist sketch depicts Justice Amy Coney Barrett, from left, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Justices announce opinions at the Supreme Court in Washington, on June 27, 2025.
An artist sketch depicting Justice Amy Coney Barrett, from left, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Justices announce opinions at the Supreme Court in Washington, on June 27, 2025. The Supreme Court on July 3, 2025, announced it will hear cases challenging Idaho and West Virginia laws that bar transgender students from participating in girls’ or women’s school sports, stepping into a high-profile legal battle over transgender rights in schools.
Dana Verkouteren via AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court to Weigh State Laws Barring Transgender Athletes in Girls' Sports
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up transgender sports laws from Idaho and West Virginia, among the 27 states that have such laws.
Mark Walsh, July 3, 2025
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5 min read
The rainbow Pride flag flutters from the flag pole at the state Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on June 17, 2019.
The rainbow Pride flag flutters from the flag pole at the state Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on June 17, 2019. The Trump administration has ordered California to remove all references to gender identity from a sex education curriculum or risk losing federal funds.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Orders California to Remove Gender Identity From Sex Ed Curriculum
The state has 60 days to make the change or it risks losing federal funds.
Brooke Schultz, June 24, 2025
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4 min read
Law, politics and eco balance concept. 3d rendering of scale icon on fresh spring meadow with blue sky in background.
iStock/Getty
Law & Courts School Restrooms, LGBTQ+ Curriculum, Disability Rights: A Spring Legal Roundup
Courts weighed in this spring on transgender rights, disability access, and parent opt-outs.
Mark Walsh, June 20, 2025
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11 min read
Runners take off from the starting line for the 2A girls championship cross country race on Oct. 28, 2023, at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Runners take off from the starting line for the 2A girls championship cross-country race on Oct. 28, 2023, at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Trump administration is proposing a change to a school athletics rule under Title IX, but doing it through the U.S. Department of Energy rather than the Department of Education.
Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP
Federal The U.S. Department of Energy Is Trying to Change a Title IX Rule. Why?
Proposals from the U.S. Department of Energy show buy-in from across the administration for the president's view of gender identity.
Brooke Schultz, June 19, 2025
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6 min read
Nate, 14, left, and Bird, 9, right, whose parents asked not to use their last names, hold signs and transgender pride flags as supporters of transgender rights rally by the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington.
Nate, 14, left, and Bird, 9, right, whose parents asked not to use their last names, hold signs and transgender pride flags as supporters of transgender rights rally by the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. The high court on June 18, 2025, upheld a Tennessee law banning certain gender-transition treatments for minors.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Ruling May Redefine Transgender Rights in Schools
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case about puberty blockers and hormone treatments that holds implications for transgender students.
Mark Walsh, June 18, 2025
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6 min read
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