Officials insisted on calling a girl a boy despite instructions from parents
A court in Wisconsin has ruled against a school in a huge case in which parents sued the Kettle Moraine district for setting up a secret process to give their children “gender” appropriate names and pronouns – and conceal that action from parents.
Luke Berg, of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said, “This victory 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. The decision should be a warning to the many districts across the country with similar policies to exclude parents from gender transitions at school.”
The ruling was from the Waukesha County Circuit Court and said Kettle Moraine School District violated parents’ constitutional rights to raise their own children by allowing minor students to change gender identity at school without parental consent, and even over their objection, WILL reported.
“The order enjoins the school district from ‘refer[ring] to students using a name or pronouns at odds with the student’s biological sex, while at school, without express parental consent.’ The decision sets a significant precedent that will help achieve greater wins across the country,” WILL noted.
Kate Anderson, of the ADF, which worked with WILL on the dispute, said, “Parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children is one of the most basic constitutional rights every parent holds dear.
“Yet 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 two legal organizations brought the fight against Kettle Moraine “for supporting and affirming a minor student’s gender transition at school over the parents’ objection,” the report said.
The situation involved a couple’s daughter who began to question her gender in 2020, and “for a time, wanted to go by a male name and pronouns while at school,” WILL said.
“Her parents sought professional and medical support for her, deciding after extensive research that immediately treating her as a boy would not be in her best interest. Their daughter is now grateful she never transitioned. The parents communicated their decision to district staff, but the district refused to respect their decision—forcing them to withdraw her from the school,” the organizations confirmed.
“Just a few weeks later, their daughter realized her parents were right and expressed that the ‘affirmation’ that she was a boy ‘really messed her up,'” the report said.
WILL and ADF had cited the opinions of Dr. Erica Anderson, a licensed psychologist with over 40 years of experience and Dr. Stephen Levine, a clinical psychiatrist and professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
They warned that actions like the school’s could create a negative outcome for children with dysphoria issues.
The court’s summary judgment for the parents said their constitutional right to “direct the upbringing and education of children under their control” is protected under both the Wisconsin and United States’ Constitutions, and it includes the right to decide whether a social transition is best for their child.
“The school district could not administer medicine to a student without parental consent. The school district could not require or allow a student to participate in a sport without parental consent. Likewise, the school district cannot change the pronoun of a student without parental consent without impinging on a fundamental liberty interest of the parents,” the ruling said.
The same fight is developing in school district after school district across the nation these days as the administration of Joe Biden has adopted the idea of promoting transgenderism as one of its main goals while in office.
The family ended up withdrawing the 12-year-old girl from the district because officials there insisted on maintain their own transgender agenda – in opposition to the parents’ wishes.
