California Becomes the First State to Ban Student Gender Notification Policies

A year after school boards in California emerged as unlikely culture war battlegrounds, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed the nation’s first law prohibiting policies that force educators to tell parents if their children ask to use a different name or pronouns.

The new law was applauded by L.G.B.T.Q. organizations who said it would protect the privacy and safety of transgender students, especially those who might fear their parents would not support their identity. But conservatives vowed to challenge the law in court, and Elon Musk, the Tesla chief executive, called it the “final straw” in a post on X, vowing to move the headquarters of X and Space X to Texas as a result of the bill signing.

Over the past year, more than a dozen school boards in California — largely led by conservatives who were elected in the aftermath of pandemic disruptions — enacted policies that would have required school employees to notify parents if students asked to use a name or pronouns other than the ones listed on their school records.

Similar policies have been enacted in conservative states, such as Tennessee and North Carolina, as part of a sweeping “parental rights” movement backed by national conservative organizations. But liberal leaders in California saw the school board polices as an unwelcome incursion that would forcibly out transgender and nonbinary students.

Mr. Newsom and Rob Bonta, the state attorney general, had fought conservative-led school districts in court before the overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature sent its bill to the governor last month.