LGBTQ Curriculum in California Schools: FAIR Act and Opt-Outs

The LGBTQ curriculum in California schools is governed by two separate state laws: the FAIR Education Act, which requires social science classes to teach LGBTQ+ contributions to history, and the California Healthy Youth Act, which requires LGBTQ-inclusive sexual health instruction in grades 7 through 12. Parents have a clear statutory right to opt their child out of sex ed. There is no equivalent opt-out from history class under state law, though a 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decision now gives parents with sincere religious objections a federal constitutional path to excuse their child from specific lessons.

What the FAIR Act Requires in History Class

The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, codified at Education Code Section 51204.5, requires social science instruction to cover the role and contributions of LGBTQ+ Americans to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States.¹ LGBTQ+ Americans appear in the statute alongside Native Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, and persons with disabilities. The law also calls for instruction to portray “the role of these groups in contemporary society,” so lessons are not meant to stop at the past.

A separate provision bars both the State Board of Education and local boards from adopting textbooks or other instructional materials that reflect negatively on people based on sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, disability, or nationality.² That restriction applies to every instructional material adopted for classroom use.

What the Healthy Youth Act Requires in Sex Ed

The California Healthy Youth Act (Education Code Section 51930 and following) governs sexual health and HIV prevention education. Every student in grades 7 through 12 must receive the instruction at least once in middle school and at least once in high school, taught by trained instructors.³ It must be medically accurate, age-appropriate, and suitable for students of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and cultural backgrounds.⁴

Two requirements make LGBTQ inclusion explicit. Instruction must “affirmatively recognize that people have different sexual orientations,” and any discussion of relationships or couples must include same-sex relationships. Instruction must also cover gender, gender expression, and gender identity, and address the harm of negative gender stereotypes.⁴

Opting a Child Out of Sex Ed

Parents have a statutory right to excuse their child from all or part of the sexual health and HIV prevention instruction required by the Healthy Youth Act. California uses a passive opt-out: the child is enrolled unless the parent submits a written request to the school.⁵

Districts must notify parents at the beginning of each school year, or at enrollment for mid-year transfers, about planned instruction. The notice has to tell parents that materials are available for review, identify any outside consultants or guest speakers, and explain how to submit the written request to excuse the child. If a district schedules instruction after the year begins, notice goes out at least 14 days before the lesson.⁵

Opting a Child Out of History and Social Science

State law contains no opt-out from the FAIR Act’s history and social science curriculum. LGBTQ+ historical content is treated as part of the core curriculum, and districts are not required by state statute to excuse students from it.

Federal constitutional law now sits on top of that. In June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Mahmoud v. Taylor, holding 6-3 that the Free Exercise Clause protects a parent’s right to opt a child out of instructional content that substantially interferes with the family’s sincerely held religious beliefs, even without proof the school coerced the child into affirming those views.⁶ The case arose from a Maryland district that removed opt-outs for LGBTQ+-themed storybooks, but the Court’s reasoning was not confined to that material. Schools must give advance notice and allow opt-outs where instruction poses what the Court called a “very real threat of undermining” a family’s religious practices.

For California parents, the FAIR Act remains the law and schools must keep teaching LGBTQ+ contributions in social science. A parent asserting a sincere religious objection may now have a federal right to excuse their child from a particular lesson. The Court’s ruling calls for a case-by-case look at the specific beliefs and the specific content, so this is not a blanket exemption from the FAIR Act curriculum, and how California districts handle individual requests is still developing.⁶

How Districts Choose the Actual Materials

The legislature and State Board set the standards, but local school districts pick the textbooks and classroom resources. For kindergarten through eighth grade, the State Board adopts lists of approved basic instructional materials and districts select from those. High schools have more autonomy, but every selection must still comply with the FAIR Act’s inclusion requirements and the prohibition on materials that reflect negatively on people based on sexual orientation or other protected characteristics.²

Districts must make proposed materials available for public review and comment before final adoption. That window is where parents and community members can raise concerns about specific content before it reaches a classroom.

Teacher Training Requirements

Starting with the 2025–26 school year, the Safe and Supportive Schools Act (AB 5) requires every local educational agency serving grades 7 through 12 to give teachers and other certificated employees at least one hour of annual training on LGBTQ cultural competency. The California Department of Education was directed to finalize an online training platform and curriculum by July 1, 2025, and districts may substitute their own in-service training if it meets the same standards.⁷

The requirement runs through the 2029–30 school year. Training must be provided during paid work hours or designated professional development time, and it covers all certificated employees at schools serving those grades, not only social science or health teachers.⁷

1
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 51204.5
2
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 60044
3
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 51934
4
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 51933
5
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 51938
6
Supreme Court of the United States. Mahmoud v. Taylor, 606 U.S. 522 (2025)
7
California Legislative Information. AB 5 – The Safe and Supportive Schools Act