Breaking: Newsom Digs in After SCOTUS Rebuke, Claims Teachers ‘Forced to Be Gender Cops’

mars 04, 2026

California Governor Gavin Newsom is doubling down on his support for a California law barring teachers from informing parents of their child’s gender transition after the Supreme Court blocked the law in a temporary order this week.

The law, signed by Newsom in 2024, allowed teachers to withhold information from parents if their student experiences gender dysphoria. The law further requires that teachers use a student’s preferred pronouns.

“Teachers should be focused on teaching — not forced to be gender cops,” Newsom told the New York Post. “The shadow docket ruling by the Supreme Court undermines student privacy and the ability to learn in a safe and supportive classroom, free from discrimination based on gender identity.”

The court barred the policy on the grounds of religious free exercise and parental rights in a 6-3 decision.

“We conclude that the parents who seek religious exemptions are likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim,” the Court wrote in an unsigned opinion. “The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs.”

The majority concluded this California policy violates those beliefs.

The Court held that there is a longstanding precedent that parents have a right to raise their children in the way they see fit. Three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton criticized Newsom for his comments on the court’s decision.

“Most people look at this and can't understand why it's even a question: of course parents should be told if their children change their gender,” Hilton told the Post. “The justification Newsom claims for his parental secrecy policy is that without it, students will face harm. We have plenty of resources in California, inside and outside the school system, for any students who might be in that situation.”

Hilton called the Democrats and Newsom’s beliefs an “insane, fringe ideology.”

“They think kids belong to the government, not parents, and it is disgusting to see Newsom take the side of far left ideologues against families,” Hilton said. “But no surprise from the guy who won't do anything about biological boys in girls' sports or evil child rapists being set free early.”

Newsom’s comments come as he prepares himself for a likely 2028 presidential run by selling himself to a national audience as a centrist capable of crossing party lines to reach consensus. To that end, he’s invited several MAGA luminaries, including Steve Bannon and the late Charlie Kirk. In his episode with Kirk, Newsom went so far as to agree that it is “deeply unfair” for boys to be allowed to compete against girls in athletics simply because they identify as female.