A high school teacher in California said in an interview published Sunday that she helps her teenage students switch genders without informing their parents.
Olivia Garrison is a history teacher in Bakersfield, California and identifies as “non-binary.” In an interview with The New York Times, Garrison said that students who believe they are transgender “need protection from their own parents.”
One of Garrison’s former students, 19-year-old Clementine Morales, who goes by “Mx. Morales,” told The Times that “I had to look for parental figures in other people who were not my parents.”
Garrison reportedly tells students “I can’t protect you from the world, but when you are around me, I will accept you for who you are.”
According to the New York Post, Garrison posts videos on the platform TikTok to promote transgender ideology. This includes showing off decorations in the classroom, like a gay pride flag and calling it a “queer safe space classroom.”
A “liberal parent” in Southern California named Jessica Bradshaw told the Post that she learned of her 15-year-old’s preferred pronouns and chosen name through a school worksheet.
“There was never any word from anyone to let us know that on paper, and in the classroom, our daughter was our son,” she said. “It felt like a parenting stab in the back from the school system. It should have been a decision we made as a family.”
Other states led by Republican governors have passed legislation that prohibits educators from concealing information about students’ gender transitions from their parents. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration released guidance directing school districts to require transgender students to use restrooms, locker rooms, and participate on sports teams that align with biological sex instead of their gender identity. And, school staffers are prohibited from hiding information about a child’s gender identity from parents.
This move came after reports broke revealing that teachers in Fairfax County, Virginia were given training ahead of the 2022-2023 school year that said that teachers do not have to inform parents of students’ gender transitions. And, after the guidance came out, some Virginia school districts outside of Washington, D.C. do not plan to comply, based on letters from the schools sent to parents obtained by Townhall. And, several schools saw students stage walkouts in protest of the new policies.
In addition, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) introduced legislation that would prevent schools from hiding information about a student’s “gender identity” from their parents.
“The law in the United States has long recognized the importance of parental rights. A parent’s right to oversee the care education of their child is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment,” the bill reads. “Parents have a fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed right to raise and educate their children in the way they choose.Public schools across the country are violating these fundamental parental and familial rights by deliberately hiding information about gender transitioning from their parents.”