(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A parent group in Iowa has filed a federal lawsuit against one of the state’s school districts over its policy of facilitating gender transitions for students without parental consent or warning.
According to the Washington Examiner, Parents Defending Education sued Linn-Mar Community School District near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, under the claim that the district established a “Gender Support Plan” for children desiring to appear as the other sex.
This plan is in violation of legally protected parental rights, as well as the First and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. The Linn-Mar district released a policy announcement in April, requiring schools to create gender support plans when students choose to no longer identify with their biological sex.
According to school policy, parents are not allowed “any knowledge or input,” on these plans, and requires staff and students to address the confused student by their preferred name and pronouns.
The policy also allows the confused students to use the bathroom, locker room and participate in athletics of the sex with which they identify.
Allegedly, the policy also prohibits teachers and school officials from telling parents about a gender support plan about their child, even if the parent asks.
“The policy violates parents’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit says. “The policy deprives parents of their right to know what actions the District is taking with regards to fundamentally important decisions about their children.”
“It is impossible for parents to direct the ‘care custody, and control of their children’ when the government withholds critical information from them.”
Parents Defending Education founder Nicole Neily called the policy a “gross betrayal” of the parent’s trust in schools.
“Rather than focusing on reading, writing and arithmetic, [the school district] is encouraging students to lead double lives beginning in seventh grade, keeping major life secrets from their loved ones while giving the false impression that their family members will not love or support them,” Neily said.
“It’s hard to imagine a more destructive policy enacted in the name of ‘safety’ than this—which is why it is so important to fight this policy here and now,” she concluded.
