Community members grapple with Supreme Court ruling on student gender identity Priya Tamura and Joyce Ma May 28, 2026
![Students check out booths from the County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Services department and other organizations dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community during the May 20 “Pride at Paly” event at the quad. According to Robert Andrade, Palo Alto Unified School District Civil Rights and Legal Affairs Coordinator, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta would restrict California from enforcing gender nondisclosure policy requirements for schools. “In this particular case, they [Supreme Court] made a ruling that blocked California law of maintaining confidentiality, but the ruling is incomplete because what they did was they sent it back to the Ninth Circuit [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit] to finish the case,” Andrade said. “There's a possibility … they [Ninth Circuit] might create exceptions for the block in confidentiality. … [so] there hasn't been any guidance given to staff just yet, and the reason being is because the ultimate guidance from our legal counsel and other practitioners in the legal field that supports school districts is you want to wait for this case to finish at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because right now, our district policy essentially says we have to maintain confidentiality.”](https://palyvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_20260520_123245-1200x900.jpg)