March 2, 2025
Sean Kullman
NCFM NOTE: First published on GIBM substack at Lawsuit Claims California Discriminates against Its Boys and Its Men. Also see Sean’s new book available on Amazon: Sean couragiously stepped up to be one of our plaintiff s in the lawsuit. Harry Crouch, President/Chairman of the Board.
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The National Coalition for Men (NCFM) filed a lawsuit against the state of California for violating the equal rights of boys and of men.
Suicide, overdose, and alcohol death in California increased 49% for its boys and men from 2018 and 2019 to 2022 and 2023, and boys and men account for 75% of all the deaths of despair in California—a topic I discuss in my new book Boys, A Rescue Plan: Moving Beyond the Politics of Masculinity to Healthy Male Development and coauthored with New York Times best-selling author Michael Gurian. We argue that brain-sex difference matters and understanding those differences are critical in helping boys and men and girls and women in all sorts of areas.
Boys and men account for 75% of all the deaths of despair in California.
Despite these outcomes, which have been prevalent for decades, California has spent over $25 million on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls from 2021 to 2024 and has yet to establish a commission on boys and men.
In 2022 and in 2024, the Global Initiative for Boys and Men, a non-profit, released reports on the Status of Boys and Men in California to help educate policymakers, media, and academics around issues where boys and men are showing marked levels of disparity. The data from those reports would become part of the lawsuit by the National Coalition for Men, of which I am a member and plaintiff against California.
Despite attempts to work with legislators, the state has ignored issues around boys and men for reasons that are political. As one democratic policymaker’s chief-of-staff asked me in a meeting, “how do you have a political future if you discuss issues impact boys and impacting men?” The question was more rhetorical than inquisitive. I offered up something anyway. They’re dying.
In 2018 and 2019, there was an average of fifty-six combined suicide, overdose, and alcohol deaths per 100,000 California boys and men. In 2022 and 2023 that number jumped 49% to eighty-three deaths per 100,000.
And while suicide deaths have remained relatively the same over the past six years, it hardly suggests the suicide crisis, for instance, has stabilized for men in California and the US. That observation fails to address the spillover of despair into other areas, like those associated with overdose and alcohol that overwhelmingly impact boys and men.
The recent increase in deaths-of-despair in California are primarily overdoses and alcohol related, up 120% and 26% respectively for boys and men. While the national average around despair has increased as well, the last six-years reveal that male deaths-of-despair in California, once significantly lower than the national average, is now on par with what we are seeing across the nation.
As one democratic policymaker’s chief-of-staff asked me in a meeting, “how do you have a political future if you discuss issues impact boys and impacting men?”
Education
Educational outcomes also reveal that boys’ struggles in school run across all racial groups and are much worse. It is not a coincidence that all boys of all races are behind their female counterparts in meeting college readiness standards in California.
These numbers show up in college enrollment. When charting gender parity in the University of California System and the California State University System, data reveals just how much more California needs to do when it comes to recognizing the poor educational outcomes of the state’s boys and men (2024 California Report on the Status of Boys and Men by Global Initiative for Boys and Men).
Despite what we are seeing across the board in education, the state has not seen fit to create a commission on boys and men.
State and federal agencies have ignored these issues for decades while creating more agencies designed to specifically improve the lives of women and girls, a certainly noble goal. But when government agencies selectively discriminate, they run afoul of the law and nothing changes until someone decides to take them to court.
NCFM argues that California has a Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and it does not have a Commission on the Status of Boys and Men, something that represents a violation of equal protections but more aptly dismisses the struggles of boys and men in education, physical & mental health, homelessness, and areas outlined in the GIBM state reports.
It also shows a complete lack of moral and ethical responsibility in the procedures and practices of our political apparatus.
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To learn more about the NCFM lawsuit against the state of California, click here.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Thx a lot for your effort.
Great Job Sean. Where is Unruh when you need it?