Wisconsin judge blocks policy allowing students to change their gender identity at school without parental consent – JURIST

A Wisconsin state judge struck down on Tuesday a public school district policy that allowed students to request to transition to a different gender identity at school without parental consent and over parental objection. Judge Michael Maxwell ruled that the policy violated the fundamental parental right to direct the care of their child.

Maxwell found that the issue of gender identity at school is “undisputedly” a medical and healthcare issue that “directly implicates” an infringement against fundamental parental rights. Maxwell noted that, since a fundamental right is at stake, the school policy must pass a legal threshold known as strict scrutiny. Under the strict scrutiny test, an infringement must be “narrowly tailored to advance a compelling state interest.” Maxwell concluded that the school policy failed to pass strict scrutiny because the school put forth “no evidence” to justify overriding a parent’s choice of how to medically treat their child.

The legal challenge arose when a student’s parents sued the school after they were notified that the school would use the pronouns that their child identifies with, even over the parents’ objections. In February, the parents moved for summary judgment to stop the school from continuing to use this policy. Maxwell granted this motion for summary judgment. Maxwell’s Tuesday order enjoins the school from “allowing or requiring staff to refer to students using a name or pronouns at odds with the student’s biological sex, while at school, without parental consent.”

The Alliance for Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that assisted the parents in the case, celebrated the ruling, stating:

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.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ rights group, declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the US in a report that highlights the steep increase in laws and harassment targeting the LGBTQ+ community.