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A high school history teacher in California has admitted to helping students change their gender identity without their parents’ knowledge.
Olivia Garrison, who is non-binary, told the New York Times that they felt it was their job as teachers to ‘protect children’, ‘sometimes from their own parents’.
“My job, which is a public service, is to protect children,” Garrison said. ‘Sometimes, they need the protection of their own parents.’
Garrison teaches at Del Oro High School in the Kern High School District (KHSD), which has a form that allows students to change their preferred name and gender marker without a parent’s signature.
The history teacher, who previously posted on TikTok about his “queer safe space classroom,” was one of dozens of educators, public officials and parents the New York Times spoke to about gender transition in schools.
Olivia Garrison, who previously posted on TikTok about her ‘queer safe space classroom’, has admitted to helping students change their gender identity without their parents’ knowledge.
Clementine Morales, a Garrison alumnus who is now 19, told the Times that they came out as nonbinary at school when they couldn’t at home.
“I had to look for father figures in people other than my parents,” Morales said.
Schools have come under pressure to address the needs of transgender youth, but dozens of parents whose children have socially transitioned at school told The Times they felt “villained by educators who seemed to think they knew what it was.” better for their children.
Jessica Bradshaw of Torrance, California, told the Times that she learned about her 15-year-old son’s social transition after reading his preferred name on a worksheet.
“There was never a word from anyone that let us know that on paper and in the classroom, our daughter was our son,” she said, accepting her son’s decision but resenting that the school had made her feel like a bad mother .
‘It felt like a stab in the back from the school system. It should have been a decision we made as a family.
The student told the Times that his school had given him a space to be himself that he wouldn’t otherwise have.
He said he had tried to tell his parents before, but they didn’t take it seriously, which is why he leaned on his school for support.
“I wish schools didn’t have to hide it from parents or do it without parental permission, but it can be important,” he said.
“Schools are just trying to do their best to keep students safe and comfortable. When you’re trans, you feel like you’re in danger all the time. Even though my parents were accepting, I was still afraid, so the school didn’t tell them.’
Garrison teaches at Del Oro High School in the Kern High School District
The district has a form that allows students to change their preferred name and gender without parental signature.
The student attends a public school that is one of many that allows students to socially transition without parental permission.
Social transition could include a change in your name, pronouns, or gender expression.
Guidelines on social transition vary between school districts and by state. Some states, including California, New Jersey, and Maryland, advise schools not to disclose information about students’ gender identity without their permission.
But there are several other states with anti-discrimination guidance that is open to interpretation.
Jeff Walker, a parent in Alabama and another parent of a transgender student, told the Times that he worries about other gender-nonconforming youth whose families aren’t open to transitioning.
“Not all children in this area have safe spaces at home,” Walker said.
The New York Times also spoke with Dr. Erica Anderson, a psychologist who has helped hundreds of young people transition.
Anderson, who is transgender, has filed a brief in support of the parents in a Maryland lawsuit alleging that the district’s policy violates their rights, the Times reported.
He wrote that social transition is “an important and potentially transformative decision that requires parental involvement, for many reasons.”