California Wanted Girls To Declare Themselves 'Mentally Unfit' Over Gender Views
By PNW StaffAugust 29, 2025
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In Temecula, California, a chilling policy proposal revealed just how far some school officials are willing to go in forcing gender ideology on children. Girls who felt uncomfortable changing or showering in front of biological boys were told they would need to file mental health accommodation forms--essentially declaring themselves mentally unfit--just to preserve their privacy.
Former NCAA athlete and outspoken women's advocate Riley Gaines broke the news after a mother shared proof: in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, her daughter could only avoid the boys' locker room by signing paperwork acknowledging a "mental health issue."
The outrage was swift. Parents packed school board meetings. Activists and everyday families alike spoke out against the absurdity of branding young girls as disordered simply for wanting privacy. And now, as of today, the Temecula school board has tabled the policy--for now--under heavy opposition.
But make no mistake: the very fact this policy was created in the first place should shake us awake.
A System Turned Upside Down
The logic here is terrifying: if a girl wants privacy, she must accept a label of mental fragility. This flips the natural order of reason on its head. Privacy is not a symptom of instability--it is a human right, recognized across cultures and throughout history. Yet California's education establishment sought to redefine it as pathology.
The message was unmistakable: if you won't conform to the new orthodoxy, you must be sick.
Even though the plan is now shelved, the intent has been revealed. What kind of worldview imagines that a middle-school girl saying "I don't want to undress in front of boys" should be diagnosed as unstable? It is not the girls who are confused--it is the policymakers.
A Reckless Attack on Women
This is not merely a bad idea--it is reckless cruelty disguised as compassion. By medicalizing the objections of young women, California schools were preparing to teach them to distrust their own instincts, to second-guess their need for safety, and to bow before ideology at the cost of their dignity.
And let's be clear: the girls were not asking for special treatment. They were not demanding anyone else's exclusion. They simply wanted the same privacy previous generations took for granted. The radical element here was never their request, but the system's insistence that normal boundaries must be reclassified as a disorder.
That this motion even reached the school board table tells us everything about the direction of modern progressivism. For those on the left who drive this agenda, opposing gender ideology isn't disagreement--it's "mental illness."
Broader Implications for America
Yes, Temecula parents stopped this particular policy--for now. But the blueprint is out in the open. If one district can attempt this, so can others. Once the precedent is set--that disagreement with progressive orthodoxy equals mental illness--there is no limiting principle. Today it's locker rooms. Tomorrow it could be sports, dorm assignments, or even workplaces.
We have entered a dangerous cultural moment where language is weaponized, and dissent is pathologized. This is the same tactic authoritarian regimes used throughout the twentieth century: dissenters were branded as insane, locked away, or forced into silence.
Do we really want to march down that road?
The Call to Courage
Parents must stay vigilant. School boards must be held accountable. Legislators must be challenged to defend this madness in the court of public opinion. Because if we let our guard down, we will leave our daughters with two impossible choices: surrender their privacy, or accept the label of mental instability.
That is not progress. That is abuse by policy.
The people of Temecula stood up and, at least for now, stopped this dangerous precedent. But the fact that it was drafted at all should outrage every parent in America. It shows exactly what the architects of gender ideology believe: if you resist, you are not just wrong--you are broken.
That belief is poisonous. And if we don't confront it now, it will not stop at Temecula.