California School District Settles Secret Gender Transition Lawsuit, must pay One Hundred Thousand Dollars
The Spreckels Union School District in Monterey County, California, has settled a lawsuit that alleged it encouraged a girl to change her gender while concealing the transition from her parents.
The settlement came to $100,000 - $48,000 for the mother who was deceived; $48,000 to the girl who was the alleged victim; and $4,000 for medical expenses the plaintiffs had to incur with the California Department of Health Care Services.
The settlement, agreed to in mid-June and approved by a federal judge Aug. 3, brings an end to the legal action pursued by Jessica Konen and her daughter Alicia, who went by the initials A.G.&
The lawsuit alleged that teachers and administrators at Buena Vista Middle School "secretly convinced A.G." that she was bisexual and, later, transgender.&
A.G. suffered "profound mental stress" due to the action of school personnel, who encouraged the student not to inform her mother, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was brought after author Abigail Shrier published a story on her Substack, The Truth Fairy, titled "How Activist Teachers Recruit Kids." The story described a presentation by two teachers at the Buena Vista Middle School who ran the school's "gay-straight alliance," known as "You Be You" (or UBU). Shrier reported that the teachers admitted that they "surveil students electronically to ferret out students who might be interested, after which the identified student is recruited to the club via a personal invitation." They also discussed evading parents and mocking their concerns. The teachers have since resigned and the UBU club has been suspended for a year.
The settlement, negotiated by Republican civil rights attorney Harmeet Dhillon, came as California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing a local school district over a parental notification policy for gender transitions.