Following outcry from LGBTQ+ students and families whose local districts enacted “forced outing” policies over the past year, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond celebrated the signage of AB 1955: Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act (SAFETY Act) into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The signing of AB 1955, the SAFETY Act, comes nearly one year to the date after Thurmond was forcibly removed from a school board meeting after speaking during public comment to oppose a proposed forced outing policy that LGBTQ+ students and families had said would threaten students’ safety at school and at home.

Thurmond supported AB 1955 to ensure all students have access to safe and supportive learning environments regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The SAFETY Act was introduced by Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) and co-authored by State Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman, Vice-Chair and Chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, along with co-authors and Assembly Members Al Muratsuchi, Sabrina Cervantes, Corey Jackson, Alex Lee, Evan Low, and Rick Chavez Zbur, and State Senators Toni Atkins, John Laird, Caroline Menjivar, Susan Rubio, Scott Wiener and Steve Padilla. Superintendent Thurmond supported the bill as part of efforts to push back against extremist attacks on the privacy rights of LGBTQ +students.

The SAFETY Act prohibits and invalidates any adopted school board policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires forced outings. The SAFETY Act does not limit students’ and parents’ ability to discuss gender identities within their own families in the manner that they choose. The Act states that a school employee shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s LGBTQ+ identity to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law. The Act does not limit a parent’s ability to request school records.

According to a 2024 survey conducted by the Trevor Project, 90% of LGBTQ+ young people report that their well-being has been negatively impacted by recent politics. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-17 report experiencing bullying within the past year, and those who did, report significantly higher rates of attempting suicide.

The SAFETY Act provides critical resources for parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ+ students to navigate conversations around gender and identity on their own terms and ensures teachers or school staff are not retaliated against for refusing to forcibly out a student.

“I am proud to work alongside our legislators who have courageously championed the privacy rights of our most vulnerable students, and whose partnership has helped ensure that this bill made it to the Governor’s desk for signing. This is a major step forward for the rights of students and families, and it a reason to celebrate with our LGBTQ+ community this Pride Month,” Thurmond said. “All of our students deserve to be safe at school in order to learn and thrive. Our LGBTQ+ youth need to be protected from bullying and harassment at school, and the families of our LGBTQ+ youth deserve privacy and dignity to handle deeply personal matters at home, without the forced intervention of school employees. Our teachers can now focus on teaching the critical academic skills that our students need to succeed, not on policing the gender identities of children.”

Transgender youth are entitled to safe school environments free from discrimination. According to a 2024 Trevor Project survey, LGBTQ+ youth who report living in very accepting communities attempt suicide at less than half the rate of those who report living in very unaccepting communities.

Since 2020, six states have passed laws requiring school staff to forcibly out transgender students, and five states have passed legislation promoting the outing of transgender students in school.

State Superintendent Thurmond has consistently worked to defend the rights of LGBTQ+ students and educators. In 2019, Thurmond and the Equality California Institute co-sponsored a bill that encourages teachers to receive training on school and community resources available to support LGBTQ+ students facing bullying, harassment, discrimination, or lack of acceptance at home or school. As a result, last year, the CDE partnered with the Los Angeles County Office of Education to lead trainings for teachers with the critical resources they need to help California’s LGBTQ+ students.

Thurmond sponsored SB 760 All-Gender Restrooms (Newman), which requires all K-12 schools in California to provide appropriate and equitable access to all-gender restrooms for students to use during school hours, and AB 5 The Safe and Supportive Schools Act (Zbur), which requires all K-12 schools in California to provide training to support LGBTQ+ pupils.
More information on how to support LGBTQ+ students is available on the CDE website.