Several conservative Christian teachers are asking the Supreme Court to allow them to immediately out trans kids to their parents after an appeals court told them theyd have to wait for a legal battle to play out in the courts.The case involves four teachers and four parents from the Escondido Union School District in California who claim that the districts policy banning them from outing kids to their parents forces them to violate faith. They argue that their right to exercise [their] own religious beliefs is being violated by the district policy, which was established in response to 2016 legal guidance from the California Department of Education advising districts not to out students. Related Teachers are outing trans students thanks to states new Dont Say Gay law The teachers won their case in a federal court in December, with George W. Bush-appointed Judge Roger Benitez ruling that California should trust parents to do the right thing for their child and let teachers out trans kids to their parents, even in cases where the child fears abuse, neglect, or homelessness as a result. Trans and nonbinary youth are muchmore likely to experience homelessnesscompared to cisgender youth.Benitez also said that the districts policy violates the religious exercise rights of both teachers and parents, as well as parents Fourteenth Amendment rights to care, guide, and make health care decisions for their children. He compared a child being transgender to being sexually victimized, arguing that a teacher would have to report abuse and that this is the same thing as outing trans kids. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today He issued a permanent injunction barring California from enforcing its state-level guidance advising districts to adopt anti-outing policies. In early January, a panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a stay to Benitezs injunction, allowing California to enforce its trans youth protections. Now the plaintiffs, represented by the conservative Thomas More Society, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn that stay and allow the teachers to immediately out trans kids to their parents, K-12 Dive reports. This is an issue of national importance and will likely need to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, said Thomas More Society lawyer Paul Jonna in a statement.We believe that the district court misapplied the law and that the decision will ultimately be reversed on appeal, the California Attorney Generals Office said of Benitezs ruling. We are committed to securing school environments that allow transgender students to safely participate as their authentic selves while recognizing the important role that parents play in students lives.Outing trans youth to their parents puts them at increased risk of homelessness, according to the Williams Institute. Not only that, they might still be exploring their identities and need to exercise control over their coming-out process. Transition isnt a flick of a switch; its a complex, gradual, weaving journey of identity, Connie Walden, a trans woman, wrote to the New York Times in 2023. My own transition started in high school. At what stage between my experimenting with makeup now and then to asking specific friends to call me Connie would I have officially, suddenly, socially transitioned? When should I have been robbed of the right to come out to my own family, to decide when to include them in my own process?I recognize the pain of well-meaning parents who feel that their child kept such a large secret from them. Yet with transition being a gradual process of experimentation, there is no big secret. Theres only kids slowly figuring out who they are, like all other kids.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.