WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC) filed an amicus brief in Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, supporting a petition to the United States Supreme Court involving parents’ fundamental right to direct their children’s upbringing, health care and education. This is the first secret “transition” case to reach the Supreme Court.
In this case, Massachusetts school officials facilitated the social “transition” of the plaintiff’s middle school daughter, despite the parents’ specific instructions to the school not to discuss gender-identity issues with her. The parents informed the school that they hired a private counselor to get their daughter the mental health care she needed. School officials, however, decided to socially “transition” their daughter, giving instructions to school staff not to tell the parents.
The parents sued in federal court alleging a violation of their constitutional rights to direct the upbringing of their children, including the right to make medical and mental-health decisions for their children. The district court ruled against the parents, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed.
IWLC’s amicus brief highlights the research uncovering the disproportionate harm to young women and girls when schools facilitate social transition, concluding: “Parents, not school staff, are constitutionally entrusted with the upbringing of their children—including the right and duty to make medical and mental health care decisions if their child is suffering from gender dysphoria. And when the State usurps the parental role with respect to the social transition of students in public schools, it threatens disproportionate, irreversible harm to vulnerable young women and girls.”
Beth Parlato, senior legal advisor for Independent Women’s Law Center, said, “School districts across the country have enacted gender-identity and secret transition policies that undermine parents’ involvement and authority. Countless children are being harmed and parental rights violated. It is crucial that the Supreme Court grant the parent’s petition for certiorari and reverse the decision below.”
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