In what critics are calling a blatant dismissal of parental rights, the Carlsbad Unified School District last week defended its decision to allow representatives from two leftist organizations that encourage and help facilitate gender transitions to speak directly to minors during school hours, while blocking parents from attending.

In March, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Club at Sage Creek High School in Carlsbad, California, invited speakers from Trans Family Support Services and DAP Health—organizations that promote services for gender transitions, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries—to present during the school’s Ally Week. The talk was originally scheduled to take place in the school’s cafeteria during lunch, where a large number of students would be.

The parents of one of the students forced to sit in on the presentation filed a complaint with the school district, warning officials that these groups were advocating irreversible medical interventions to minors, potentially violating student privacy and state and federal laws on parental consent. Their complaint also stated that parents of students were not allowed to attend, while outside adults were given direct access to students.

In a May 8, 2025, letter reviewed by IW Features, the district formally rejected a complaint filed by parents. Officials went on to cite the federal Equal Access Act, claiming the GSA’s lunchtime events were student-led and voluntary, and that district officials had no authority to block the speakers without proof they would cause “substantial interference.”

The district admitted that one of the scheduled speakers, Mita Beach, director of Gender Health & Wellness at DAP Health, did not end up presenting due to concerns about inappropriate content Beach had posted online. But two other speakers, Joscelyn Inton-Campbell (Trans Family Support Services) and Karl Pongyingis (Balboa Naval Hospital), did address students. According to attendees, both discussed diagnosing trans-identifying youth, how to access “gender-affirming care,” and how their organizations provide services to minors, often without parental consent.

According to the district’s findings, the presentations occurred during non-instructional time and did not result in any disruption. As a result, officials concluded the speakers did not violate board policy or the law.

But for parents and many more who are just now learning of the events, the issue is far from resolved.

“This isn’t about student clubs,” said one local parent in the complaint to the district. “It’s about schools giving outside activists access to kids, while shutting parents out. That’s a line that should never be crossed.”

So, how did this all pan out?

In late March, Carlsbad parents learned that Mita Beach, a self-described BDSM expert and Director at DAP Health, a transgender clinic that promotes referrals for minors to obtain puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures, had been scheduled to speak during Ally Week at Sage Creek High School. Beach’s pronouns are listed as “they/them” on LinkedIn. Posters were displayed throughout the school publicizing the event.

Beach’s pronouns were hardly the most concerning thing displayed on social media and in other public content. Beach also advertised BDSM imagery and workshops on “Kink 101” and “Self-Injurious Behavior, Erotic Play, and Body Modification” and described himself as a genderqueer, kinky f***er” online.

After discovering this, parents alerted the school and superintendent. Social media posts containing screenshots of his resume and photos from his BDSM activities circulated widely. In response, the school quietly canceled Beach’s appearance.

The GSA club’s event, however, proceeded as planned, with two other outside speakers replacing Beach: Joscelyn Inton-Campbell from Trans Family Support Services and Karl Pongyingis from Balboa Naval Hospital. At the event, both spoke to students about diagnosing trans-identifying individuals, “gender-affirming care” access, and how students can receive services without parental knowledge or consent, according to students in attendance.

Efforts by parents to push back on the event or even attend it were ignored by school officials. And when parents filed a formal complaint in response, the district shut them down.

In rejecting parents’ complaint, the district claimed the Ally Week event was geared only toward members of the school’s GSA club. One parent who requested to attend told IW Features they were denied access on the basis that their child was not a GSA member. 

Officials cited the Equal Access Act, a 1984 federal law meant to prevent schools from discriminating against student clubs based on religion or politics. But critics argue the law has been twisted into a loophole to advance radical ideology while keeping parents in the dark.

The district also referenced Board Policy 6145.5, which prohibits non-school persons from attending club events unless invited by students, to justify preventing parents from attending the event themselves. But there’s just one problem: the Ally Week activities were held during lunch and all students were invited to attend. And according to California law, parents have a right to attend any activity which their students participate in at school.

“They can’t have it both ways,” said Scott Davison, the parent of a student at Sage Creek who asked to attend the event. “Ally Week is advertised to the entire student body and held in the cafeteria at lunch so any student can attend, which means parents have a right to attend, too. Only when parents asked to attend did the principal suddenly claim the event was a meeting only for members of the GSA club, with the clear intent of preventing parents from finding out what this speaker would be talking about.”

According to a recent public records disclosure reviewed by IW Features, the principal, Dr. Joshua Way, defended blocking Davison from the event because he believed Davison would “interfere” with the meeting. 

“It really is ironic that as a parent and regular volunteer at the school, I was suddenly deemed to be disruptive, while a guest speaker promoting gender transition services to minors was welcomed,” Davison said. 

At a time when schools across California are pushing gender ideology on children, often without informing parents, this case may be one of the most clear-cut examples of how the system is being manipulated to trample on parents’ rights—especially those who object to the leftist indoctrination of their children.

“Parents asked for information on the speaker. Parents asked to be notified about the speaker. And parents asked for the ability to opt their students out of attending these meetings. Instead, we were shut out at every turn,” said Davison, who is also the executive director of the Carlsbad Education Alliance, a parent advocacy group in the district.

Indeed, as the district made clear: outside organizations pushing controversial medical viewpoints are welcome, even during school hours. The only ones not welcome? The parents paying the taxes and raising the kids.