Wis. Parents Seek High Court OK of School Trans Policy Suit

A group of parents in Wisconsin are asking the Supreme Court to intervene in their attempt to overturn a district policy letting parents not be informed if their child decides to identify as transgender.

The group, represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and America First Legal, petitioned the Supreme Court Wednesday, hoping the court rules that they have standing to challenge a policy of an Eau Claire Area School District that doesn't require parents to be told if their child decides to start using opposite sex facilities or changing their names or pronouns. 

"Thousands of school districts across our country have these policies. If parents cannot challenge them until after their children are harmed, they have no way to protect their kids other than pulling them from public school," WILL deputy attorney Luke Berg said in a statement.

A lower federal court had blocked the parents' effort previously since that court believed that they lacked standing because none of their children had been harmed by the policy. However, the parents maintain that the policy violates their First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights, as well as their parental rights.

"When a school district adopts an explicit policy to usurp parental decision-making authority over a major health-related decision — and to conceal this from the parents — parents who are subject to such a policy have standing to challenge it," the legal filing read.

"Is federal standing law so constrained that when a school district openly declares what it will do when a child expresses a desire to transition — that it will not only make the decision for parents about whether that is in the child's best interest, but will also hide it from them — parents are powerless to challenge that policy until after their children have been harmed by it, hope they discover it, and even then, good luck overcoming all the other obstacles?"

The school maintained that the goal of the policy is to get the parents to approve of their child's transition.

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