Far from being meant to protect students, as trans students and other opponents of the forced outing policy argued, such a policy can be used as a weapon for the school district and for parents to get children to “conform” (under duress) to their gender as assigned at birth. Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, has challenged the policy in the Chino Valley school district in court. In his complaint, filed in August, Bonta stated that transgender and gender nonconforming students “are in real fear that the District’s policy will force them to make a choice: either ‘walk back’ their constitutionally and statutorily protected rights to gender identity and gender expression, or face the risk of emotional, physical, and psychological harm from non-affirming or unaccepting parents or guardians.” (In September, a state judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the policy, also citing possible harm to trans children from parents or guardians.)
California, like Virginia, saw a forced outing bill fail when it was introduced in the state legislature. That’s what inspired the Chino Valley school board president Sonja Shaw to adopt a version of the bill in her school district. When the state attorney general challenged the policy, the school district turned to Liberty Justice Center to represent them. Liberty Justice Center is the law project of the conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute, with significant funding from the Republican megadonor Richard Uihelein (who is perhaps better known for giving millions of dollars to multiple groups working to overturn the 2020 election).. Shaw has encouraged other school districts to pass forced outing policies, saying Liberty Justice Center would represent them if they were challenged.
Support for these policies is coming from other major conservative groups. A model national version of forced outing policy, “The Given Name Act,” has been drafted by the Heritage Foundation, the hard right Washington think tank. Elements of the model forced outing policy feature in a Heritage-led agenda Project 2025—their presidential transition plan for the next conservative president. Project 2025 is “systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state,” project director Paul Dans has said.