Southern California Teachers Stand Up to Gender Policies Despite Retaliation

Both teachers have decided to retire but are still seeking injunctive relief, as they plan on being substitute teachers.

(L–R) Teacher Lori Ann West, attorney Paul Jonna, and teacher Elizabeth Mirabelli. A federal judge in 2023 blocked a school district in Escondido, Calif., from punishing the two teachers for refusing to keep gender transitions of students secret from their parents. Courtesy of Paul Jonna

Southern California middle school teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West have stood up to new gender policies that required teachers to keep students’ gender transitions a secret from others, including their parents.

The policies rolled out by Escondido Union School District (EUSD) in late 2021 also required teachers to address students who identify as transgender by their preferred names and pronouns, and they allowed students to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity rather than their sex.

“We both believe that God created two sexes, male and female, and the relationship between parents and children was created by God with the intent for parents to raise and guide their children,” West told The Epoch Times. “We do not want to take the place of the parents.”

West said when girls who want to identify as boys at Rincon Middle School go to counselors, they receive so much praise and are celebrated as brave and honest.

“They eat it up. They get so much attention. They see one kid gets this, and they kind of follow along. It’s infecting them. It’s spreading,” she said.

The two San Diego County educators faced termination if they did not comply. They filed a religious work accommodation and were allowed to refer to all students by last names in order to avoid using the preferred names and pronouns of students who identified as transgender.

But they were denied an exemption from withholding students’ gender identities from parents and were told that if a parent were to ask about a child’s gender identity, they should respond “that the inquiry is outside of the scope of the intent of their interaction.”

EUSD board members did not respond to requests for comment by The Epoch Times.

Mirabelli and West sued officials of the district and of the California State Board of Education on April 27, 2023, alleging that these policies are unconstitutional.

“We represent teachers and families, and we knew that if we failed to challenge this policy, that the rights of so many would be compromised, and it would put a lot of people in harm’s way,” Mirabelli told The Epoch Times.

A preliminary injunction was granted on Sept. 14, 2023, declaring the policy to be unconstitutional and preventing the district from punishing the two teachers.

Mirabelli and West said they had the support of many teachers and parents who were afraid to speak out.

“The policies are a product of very concentrated, well-funded special interest groups that have used the public schools as a pipeline to direct these policies,” Mirabelli said. “By and large, most people are behind us and support us.”

People opposed to the teaching of gender ideology in schools participate in a march on the grounds of the New Brunswick Legislature in Fredericton on Sept. 20, 2023. The Canadian Press/Stephen MacGillivray

Following the lawsuit, Mirabelli requested to be placed on administrative leave until her concerns about severe retaliation and the harassment she faced at school could be remedied. She left on May 5, 2023.

The previous day, West was offered a chance to go on paid administrative leave but declined because she wanted to participate in her eighth graders’ graduation, according to a supplemental declaration.

On May 18, her attorney received an email stating that some students had complained about her and that she was involuntarily being placed on administrative leave.

“I want to do my job and teach my students,” West said in the declaration. “They will never know why I am gone or get to say goodbye to me—or me to them.”

EUSD launched an investigation into West, which concluded on Sept. 29, 2023, after finding no wrongdoing. During this time, students were reportedly allowed into her classroom to post hateful posters.

On Oct. 13, 2023, Mirabelli and West found out through a flyer that a protest against them was being organized at school.

A second flyer was reportedly distributed on Oct. 20, the day of the protest, that mocked Mirabelli’s “extreme stress” and “anxiety” caused by the hostility she faced at school and EUSD’s parental exclusion policies.

West returned to teaching in January 2024 and considered working another year or two, but she said she decided to retire in part because of the harassment she faced.

Mirabelli, who attempted to return to work and reconcile with the district, retired over her concerns regarding safety and harassment that she said were not taken seriously.

“I could feel the hatred; it was a very divided campus,” West said.

Mirabelli and West are still seeking injunctive relief as they plan to be substitute teachers.

On Jan. 7, Judge Roger Benitez denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the case, declaring that parents’ long-recognized federal constitutional rights take precedence over the state rights of children.

“Parents’ rights to make decisions concerning the care, custody, control, and medical care of their children is one of the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests that Americans enjoy,” he stated.

The final pretrial conference is scheduled for Nov. 10, 2025.

Jonna told The Epoch Times that the final ruling will likely have a significant effect on courts and set a crucial precedent.

“We’re quite confident that if it were to go to the Ninth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court, it would create very broad protective precedent in this area,” he said.