Do Parents Have the Right to Know If Their Child Wants to Change Genders?

Protect The 1st has long held that parents have a First Amendment right to extend their beliefs and values across generations. It is for that reason that we object to schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, (Mahmoud v. Taylor) denying parents the right to opt-out their young children from sexually explicit reading courses. As we demonstrated in an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court, Montgomery County schools violate these families’ free exercise of religion.
 
Now a similar case has arisen in Massachusetts, as recognized by commentator Jonathan Turley:
 
“The 1st Circuit just held that parents have no right to know about their 11-year-old changing gender in school. This ‘unwritten’ policy was viewed as overriding parental rights. The decision is defended as a reflection of our ‘pluralistic society.’”
 
Frederick Claybrook, in a guest post on the case for The Federalist Society added:

“The First Circuit smoothed over all of this by finding that nobody at school forced the young lady to announce she was genderqueer; they just gave her information about LGBT issues after she expressed struggles with depression, insecurity, low self-esteem, poor self-image, and a perceived lack of popularity. To the First Circuit, this no more directed her to exhibit as another gender than providing a child a book about bricklaying would direct her to become a mason. After all, the school didn’t stop her parents from espousing their own views to her at home or from seeing her own mental health professional. The Fourth Circuit reasoned similarly in Mahmoud v. McKnight when it rejected a Free Exercise Clause challenge to a school district’s refusal to tell parents when they would be teaching their children LGBTQ+ lessons and what materials they would use; the Supreme Court has accepted that case (now Mahmoud v. Taylor) for review. Hopefully, the Court’s decision, expected by the end of June, will shed some light on the path rather than cloud it further.”
 
We too hope for clarity from the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
For our part, Protect The 1st cherishes the fact that we live in a pluralistic society. We stand fast against bigotry in any form. But schools keeping parents in the dark about mental health care decisions for their children strikes us as Orwellian, and for parents with faith commitments on issues of sexuality, a violation of the First Amendment. 

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