Opinion
By Casey Harper (The Central Square)
A Wisconsin mother is criticizing a school policy that allows students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their chosen gender identity without public discussion from parents.
Parents filed a legal challenge to that policy in Doe v. Bethel Local School District Board of Education, which is now under review by a federal appeals court.
The controversial case could make its way to the Supreme Court given the growing national attention on this topic and the flurry of similar policies, and challenges to them, in schools nationwide.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious freedom group involved in the case, filed a brief this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit on behalf of Tammy Fournier, the mother in question.
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Fournier’s daughter was not involved in the latter case, but in another similar case Fournier sued her son’s school after it implemented a policy of changing students’ names and pronouns without parental consent.
A Wisconsin court ruled in favor of Fournier last fall, but similar policies are still present in schools across the nation.
Now, Fournier is speaking out about the Doe case, one of many parents taking their children’s schools to court and speaking out.
“Many other school districts have policies that allow school employees to decide whether to treat children as if they were the opposite sex,” the statement read. “These policies often do not require parental notification or consent; in fact, they often prohibit disclosing school district decisions to the parents of a minor student without the student’s permission.”
Supporters of transgender policies say they are protecting students going through a difficult transition.
Opponents argue that parents have the right to know what is happening and to have the final say when it comes to their children.
“Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education and health care of their children,” Vincent Wagner, a lawyer for the ADF, said in a statement.
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Wagner said these cases are indicative of a nationwide trend.
“School districts across the country are increasingly violating the rights of parents, leaving them out of key decisions about their children,” Wagner said. “Increasingly, school districts are adopting policies that require school personnel to treat children as if they were the opposite sex, in many cases without parental consent or even notice.
“But the Constitution protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions about how to care for their children and the right to access the information necessary to make those decisions,” he added.
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.