Do Parents have the right?

 Do Parents have the right?

 

Montgomery County in Maryland has put guidelines into place that directs all staff members to respect students’ gender identities and pronouns, protect their privacy in terms of disclosing their pronouns and identities to other students and their families, and support them if the student doesn’t feel safe at home.   The guidelines also require all trans and nonbinary students to be treated on a case-by -case basis and the student’s individualized needs and safety be taken into account.

Some parents in the district felt that this policy usurped their rights as parents.  So like all good Americans they sued.  The parents’ suit contended that the district’s policy was specifically designed to circumvent parental involvement in a pivotal decision affecting their children’s care , health, education and future.  

This was the first case to come to court in the culture wars going on across the country regarding the rights of students who are trans or nonbinary.  Students who are LBGTQ are also being challenged.  In some districts the rights of these students are being taken away and in other jurisdictions those rights are being protected. 

Montgomery County Public Schools has staked a policy that strives to protect those rights.  In issuing his decision, U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm last month tossed out the lawsuit. He ruled that the policy did not violate the parents’ Constitutional rights.  His opinion validated both the guidelines and the way they are framed.  He stated, “the guidelines do not aim to exclude parents, but rather anticipate and encourage family involvement in establishing a gender-support plan”.  He further wrote that they create a support system so that the students feel safe in school. 

Parents didn’t see it that way and felt the policy allowed students to transition to a different gender identity at school without parental permission or notice.  Parents felt the policy encouraged school staff to enable such transitions.

The judge disagreed.  This was the first of this kind of lawsuit to have a hearing and a decision.  There are at least a half-dozen cases pending across the country challenging school policies on gender support or not.  Cases are challenging policy on both sides of the issue.

School districts are acting in loco parentis and the issue is who has the right to protect kids AND what does that protection look like?