Justice Department investigates ‘woke’ LA school policies around gender secrecy

A Los Angeles high school’s gender “secrecy policy” that allegedly led a student to suicide has sparked a probe by the federal Department of Justice.

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, confirmed the investigation Thursday in a blistering statement against the policy.

“These woke policies don’t just defy science, eviscerate constitutionally-protected rights — they put girls at risk of physical violence and sexual assault,” Dhillon said. “This Justice Department WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!”

Back in 2019, the Los Angeles Unified School District issued a policy that directed teachers and staff to not disclose a student’s “gender identity” as much as possible and in one sense, critics argued, prevented parents from knowing about their child’s choices.

“School personnel shall take into consideration the safety, health and well-being of the student in deciding whether to disclose the student’s gender identity or expression to parents,” the policy read.

That kept one California couple in the dark about their child, the couple’s lawsuit against the school district alleged. The Post previously reported on the lawsuit last month.

Dylan Parke was already struggling to fit in as a sophomore at Palisades Charter High School in 2019 to 2020 when he told staffers that he would use she/her pronouns and go by the name “Aria.”

Staffers kept his trans declaration a secret — driving a wedge between the child and his desperate parents, court papers said.

The mother, Kathleen Mulligan, inquired the school about what was happening with her son, but educators did not answer Mulligan’s message and “further… denied them the opportunity to participate in the care of their minor son,” the parents alleged.

The secrecy broke the family, Mulligan said, and Parke died by suicide in March 2024 at the age of 19.

The Justice Department’s investigation also revolves around a complaint from a female student who alleged the district ignored her warnings about a perpetrator, the New York Times reported. The school district declined comment to the Times.

The investigation is part of a broader set of actions the Trump administration has taken to reaffirm the parental rights movement and combat “gender identity” politics, such as targeted cuts to funding transgender surgeries.

The state of California has fought to promote such policies like the school district’s, but this year, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked state rules that limit when schools can notify parents if a student comes out as transgender, as well as rules that require teachers to use students’ preferred pronouns.

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