March 2025
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
– Micah 6:8
Welcome to this special edition of the ACCS Legal Update! We are sending out this additional brief to make you aware of proposed legislation in California which could have disastrous consequences for all schools in the state, public and private.
California Assembly Bill 727
Earlier this month, a bill proposed by California Assemblyman Mark González (D) made its way to the Committee on Education for review. That bill, AB-727, would amend existing education law regarding information printed on the backs of student ID cards. Currently, California law requires that all student IDs contain contact information for domestic violence and suicide prevention. AB-727, however, would require all 7th-12th grade schools (public and private), along with all colleges and universities, to print the contact information for the Trevor Project, an extreme LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
While the bill argues for the addition of this information on the grounds of suicide prevention and anti-bullying counseling, student IDs have included such information since 2019. The addition of the Trevor Project’s contact information appears, at least to some, to be an attempt by progressive lawmakers to expose all California students and schools to LGBTQ+ ideology.
The California Family Council (CFC), a Christian advocacy group, states:
“Under the guise of suicide prevention, this bill would compel Christian and religious schools to print the contact information of the Trevor Project on the back of student identification cards, even though this organization promotes beliefs contrary to their deeply held faith. This is a direct violation of First Amendment rights and an egregious overreach of government authority into the affairs of religious institutions.” (Emphasis theirs)
The CFC goes on to review some of the more concerning practices of the Trevor Project, including required “role-playing” scenarios in which students had to engage in “coming out” conversations. These scenarios were done without parental knowledge and were mandatory, even over the objections of Christian students who wished not to participate.
Additionally, their online chat rooms, Trevor Space, pairs unvetted adults with minors to engage in gender-related conversations and “support.” One reporter, “posing as a child questioning her gender, was granted immediate access without age verification and directed to clubs promoting witchcraft, polyamory, and even age-regression kinks.” CFC reported, “This has led organizations like Gays Against Groomers to refer to Trevor Space as a ‘pedophile’s paradise.’”
Now What?
- Directing students to an organization like the Trevor Project, particularly given its troubling practices and aggressively pro-LGBTQ+ agenda, seems to openly violate the religious freedom of Christian schools, endanger students, and violate recently signed Executive Orders prohibiting “Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.”
- If you live in California, contact your legislators and urge them to vote against AB-727.
- Pray for the rejection of this bill, not only for students and schools in California, but for Christian students and schools across the nation. The passage of such legislation can create precedent for other states and, as the oft-true old adage says, “As California goes, so goes the nation.”
Brian Phillips is the pastor of Holy Trinity Reformed Church (CREC – Concord, NC), teaches Rhetoric at Oaks Classical Christian Academy (Albemarle, NC), and is Board Vice Chairman for New Aberdeen College. Brian has also served as the Director of Consulting for The Circe Institute, Head of Upper School at Covenant Classical School (Concord, NC), and was an adjunct faculty member of Belmont Abbey College.
Dr. Phillips has an M.A. in Theological Studies, an M.A. in Classical Studies, an Ed.D. in Classical Education, and completed paralegal training at Duke University. He is also the author/editor of several books, including Sunday Mornings: An Introduction to Biblical Worship and the Canon Classics Guides to Dante’s Inferno and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Brian and his wife, Shannon, live in North Carolina with their four children and their German Shepherd, Ajax the Great.