California laws put LGBTQ students at higher risk of exploitation

OPINION:

Many California laws that are supposed to protect K-12 students who identify as LGBTQ are actually placing them at higher risk of exploitation by adults.

Some red flags of sexual predation — patiently building trust, isolating targets from parents and family, urging secrecy — are often done through flattery, online befriending, moving chats to unmonitored platforms, normalizing sexual talk and behaviors, and manipulating through shame and guilt. These are California trends that the rest of America should avoid.

Trevor Space, a virtual online platform recommended by Trevor Project, exhibits these red flags. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 727, which mandates that the Trevor Project’s crisis support hotline number be listed on the back of all student ID cards for grades seven and up by July. This sounds lifesaving, and in many cases, it is. However, when Trevor Project counselors determine the caller is not suicidal but needs support, they refer minors to Trevor Space.

TrevorSpace.org mixes minors with unvetted, random adults on a virtual international platform so these minors can explore their genders and sexualities. The organization’s website says it’s for 13- to 24-year-olds, which admits the mixing of minors with young adults.

In reality, Trevor Space users can be any age because there is no age verification. I know this because I tested it myself.

I went into Trevor Space, posing as a child, because the information was posted in my school district’s elementary students’ K-5 restrooms. I saw alarmingly titled chat clubs, such as “Gay Men’s Club” (which had the tagline “Let’s talk about boys!”), “Guilt and Secrets Club,” clubs that demeaned parents, such as “Moms are Overrated,” and “Dads Suck,” and clubs that sought to usurp the role of parents, such as “Chosen Family” and “My Children.”

It also had clubs in which people could pretend to be younger than their age, such as “Regressors’ Space.” I presented this information to a law firm and submitted the evidence to my superintendent as a potential liability issue. Multiple gay constituents, an educator/minister, a lawyer and a community leader all warned my school district board, the Governing Board of the Santa Ana Unified School District, about the dangers of Trevor Space on Feb. 28, 2023. As a result, my superintendent removed all Trevor Project numbers from the elementary student restrooms in April 2023.

When AB 727 was proposed, I asked a retired police SWAT sergeant to investigate the site. He was shocked by what he discovered. He saw naive kids being “love bombed” and lured off-platform to Discord, an unmonitored site known for the victimization of minors, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The sergeant and I both testified in Sacramento this summer, asking the Senate Education Committee to oppose AB 727. However, in spite of the warnings, it approved the measure by a 5-2 vote. I met with the Orange County superintendent and asked him and his team to check out Trevor Space. They did, and because of what they found, the Orange County Department of Education wrote a letter to Mr. Newsom, asking him to oppose AB 727.

Another law that places LGBTQ students at higher risk of exploitation is SB 1078. This makes it difficult to remove sexually explicit books from schools, which are promoted as inclusive and diverse by the California Teachers Union. Because of this legislation, signed by Mr. Newsom in 2023, we have books in our schools that instruct minors how to use adult sex apps.

One book, titled “This Book Is Gay,” tells children to upload a picture of themselves on an app, which can access their locations. It recommends the Grindr app, which has no age verification and, according to NPR, enables predatory behaviors in which minors can be stalked, victimized and trafficked.

Many sexually explicit books have entered our elementary, middle and high schools under the guise of inclusion and diversity. The International Center for Missing & Exploited Children says providing sexual content/material to minors to desensitize them and normalize sexual talk or behavior is a typical technique for grooming.

Mr. Newsom also signed AB 1955, the Safety Act, which allows children to change their gender category, name, and pronouns in school at any age without parental knowledge or consent. However, if a child changes his/her identity in school without parental knowledge and that child is missing, when the parents report this to the police, they would unknowingly give an incorrect description of their child. This lack of knowledge could stall the process of finding the missing child.

The titles of these laws communicate good intentions and preferable outcomes, but the realities, especially for LGBTQ students, are the exact opposite. It’s time Californians, and all Americans, prioritize protecting our most vulnerable in society and challenge this breach of public trust.

• Brenda Lebsack is a member of the Governing Board of the Santa Ana Unified School District in Santa Ana, California, and founder of the Interfaith Statewide Coalition.