Advancing American Freedom applauds the House of Representatives and, in particular, the House Committee on Education & Workforce for standing up to gender indoctrination in America’s public schools.
The House passed the Parental Rights Over The Education and Care of Their (PROTECT) Kids Act, a bill which would “require public elementary and middle schools that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain parental consent before changing a minor’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form or sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.”
Parents should not be cut out of some of the most important decisions in their children’s lives. Yet schools and school officials have repeatedly socially transitioned children or exposed them to gender ideology without parental notice or consent, and at times directly against parental instructions. In more than one case, children have ultimately attempted suicide after school officials exposed children to this ideology.
Protecting America’s children from gender indoctrination and restoring parents’ proper role is critical for conserving America’s ordered liberty. Advancing American Freedom is proud to have filed 15 amicus briefs across nine of the thirteen U.S. Federal Circuit Courts in secret social transition cases urging the courts to reiterate its long-established doctrine that parents have a right to direct the education and upbringing of their children.
In the First Circuit, a Massachusetts middle-school facilitated the social transition of an eleven-year-old girl, spurning her mother’s requests that school officials not discuss gender identity with her daughter. Instead, the school counselor texted and messaged the eleven-year-old via online chat to encourage weekly meetings “to discuss any gender-related concerns.”
In the Second Circuit, school officials assured a mother that no unusual circumstances were to blame for her daughter’s falling grades and distraction from her schoolwork. Even after the mother learned of the school’s social transition campaign and moved her daughter to at-home instruction, school officials continued to speak with the girl about gender issues.
In the Third Circuit, a freshman girl diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and “high functioning autism” struggled with anxiety stemming from “the childhood trauma of the death of her mother.” Yet, after the girl asked the school counselor to help her socially transition at school, the school took steps to ensure that her father would not be informed, including using the girl’s legal name for announcements over the school intercom lest her siblings should find out about her social transition and inform their father.
In the Sixth Circuit, a school district “equate[d] harassment with the ‘intentional use of pronouns inconsistent with a student’s gender identity.’”
In the Seventh Circuit, a school district that requires written parental authorization to administer over-the-counter medication such as aspirin instituted a policy directing staff to facilitate social transitions without notifying parents or seeking their consent.
In the Eighth Circuit, the Linn-Mar School Board adopted a policy that directed teachers to effectuate children’s gender transitions while keeping parents in the dark.
In the Ninth Circuit, in Mirabelli v. Bonta, a certified class including parents and teachers challenged a California School District’s policy that prohibited teachers and school staff “from informing parents about a child’s unusual gender expression, unless the child consents.” Though the Poe family’s daughter had been presenting as a boy at school for months, “The Poe parents did not learn of their child’s deteriorated mental health until after she attempted suicide.” The lives of real children are at risk, and parents are being sidelined from helping.
In the Tenth Circuit, without seeking consent from parents, two sixth graders were invited to after-school meetings that discussed gender identity. One tragically attempted suicide and identified her attendance at the “Gender and Sexualities Alliance” club meeting as the source of her suicidal ideation.
In the Eleventh Circuit, a Florida School District resisted plaintiff-parents’ attempts to direct the school’s response to their daughter’s gender dysphoria in line with the school board’s policy that warned that “[o]uting a student to parents can be very dangerous to the student’s health and wellbeing.
If passed by the Senate and signed into law, this Act would be a significant step toward restoring parental authority around the country.