CV NEWS FEED // In a significant victory for parents’ rights, a Wisconsin county court ruled that a school could not “transition” children without parental notification and consent.
“Two sets of Wisconsin parents had sued Kettle Moraine School District,” The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan reported Tuesday. The parents had accused the district
of violating their parental rights by “adopting a policy to allow, facilitate, and affirm a minor student’s request to transition to a different gender identity at school without parental consent and even over the parents’ objection.”
The suit alleged that the district “violated the constitutionally protected rights of one set of parents when it allegedly pushed their 12-year-old daughter toward a significant life decision she was not prepared to make by socially affirming her claimed gender identity [as a ‘transgender boy’] against her parents’ wishes,” Olohan explained.
The other set of parents “expressed concerns that the district would push their two children toward gender transition in the same fashion.”
Circuit Court Judge Michael Maxwell was succinct and blunt in his ruling. “This particular case is simply whether a school district can supplant a parent’s right to control the healthcare and medical decisions for their children,” he wrote. “The well established case law in that regard is clear – Kettle Moraine can not.”
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) represented the parents in the case.
“Parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children is one of the most basic constitutional rights every parent holds dear,” stated Kate Anderson, the director of ADF’s Center for Parental Rights:
We are seeing more and more school districts across the country not only ignoring parents’ concerns but actively working against them. The court was right to respect the serious concerns of these parents by holding that Kettle Moraine School District’s policy, which undermines parents and harms children, violates the Wisconsin Constitution.
The 30-year-old ADF has had a long track record of winning court victories for parental rights, religious freedom, and the right to life. Earlier this week, it was the target of an attempted smear campaign by The New Yorker, which claimed that the highly successful legal group was “going after trans rights.”
WILL Deputy Counsel Will Berg said the Wisconsin ruling “represents a major win for parental rights.”
“The court confirmed that parents, not educators or school faculty, have the right to decide whether a social transition is in their own child’s best interests,” he added.
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The parents expressed relief and gratitude after their victory.
“I am so grateful the Court has found that this policy harms children and undermines the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children,” said Tammy, the mother of the young girl the school had tried to “affirm” as a “transgender” boy:
Our daughter experienced increased anxiety and depression and her school responded to this by disregarding our parental guidance. Since leaving the school and allowing our daughter time to work through her mental health concerns, she has been able to healthily thrive and grow. Parents should be concerned when school districts disregard their concerns and override the voice and role of parents.
In late August, a California school district awarded a $100,000 settlement to a single mother following a very similar case.
As CatholicVote reported September 1, Jessica Konen sued Spreckels Union School District for “‘socially transitioning’ her 11-year-old daughter behind her back.”
“We are now receiving justice from the school that decided to try to ‘transition’ my daughter behind my back,” Konen said following her case’s resolution. “This is so wrong, and this settlement right here proves [it] in the public eye.”
