A transgender activist teacher made the mistake of teaching a first-grade class about gender identity without informing parents or allowing the children to be removed from the class. In her class in the Mount Lebanon School District in Pennsylvania, teacher Megan Williams, the mother of a transgender child, reads a book discussing gender reassignment to her first-grade students and creates a short film titled “Jacob's New Dress.” I showed you.
Carmilla Teitel, Stacy Dunn, and Gretchen Melton said their constitutional rights as parents were violated by the school system and teachers when they were not given the option of removing their children from class. He sued Mr. Williams and the school district for his actions. .
judge's opinion
Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania agreed with the mothers. In her opinion, Conti said:
For a teacher to instruct a first-grader to read a book that shows parents that their beliefs about their child's gender identity may be wrong is a direct denial of parental authority. Williams' conduct shocked the plaintiffs' own families and their relationships with their own young children to the core. In the books we read and in Ms. Williams' instruction to first graders, we were taught that gender is not determined by the child, not by God or biological reality according to the beliefs of the parents.
Furthermore, the judge and teacher pointed out that:
The acts demonstrated intolerance and contempt for the parents' religious or moral beliefs and authority. A reasonable jury could only find that the conduct at this elementary school, in the absence of a compelling government interest, violates the fundamental constitutional right of parents to control the care of their young children. There wasn't.
Conti said the district fully approved the class and ignored the mothers' concerns.
When a parent files a complaint, the school district supports the teacher and protects against the possibility that the teacher's conduct may continue in the future without notifying parents or giving their children an opportunity to remove their children from such schooling. It is said that the government adopted a policy that there is a policy (a “de facto policy''). (despite providing extensive parental notification and opt-out rights for other topics).
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) supported the mothers' lawsuit. Vincent Wagner of the ADF said in a statement:
The school district here did not notify parents about the guidance elementary school students would receive on the sensitive topic of gender identity. Worse, it instills in children that their parents may be wrong about whether they are boys or girls, striking at the heart of parents' role in shaping their children's identities. It was. The fundamental constitutional right of parents to decide how to raise their children includes the right to the information necessary to make those decisions. Without such notice and a real opportunity to remove their children from instruction, parents cannot exercise their constitutional rights.
Opt-out provisions for elementary school classes are controversial. State actors (such as schools) increasingly feel that they know better than parents about when and how to educate children about controversial topics such as transgenderism. Of course, schools should be allowed some discretion in how they teach core subjects such as maths and English. However, topics related to sex and sexuality should be completely within the purview of parents. At least that's what Judge Conti thought.
Plaintiffs do not seek to control every aspect of their children's education, but merely teach young children non-curricular subjects about sensitive topics. Parents are seeking relief only related to their child and recognize that other parents may choose to exclude their child from instruction on sensitive topics such as transgender issues. In other words, parents just want effective advance notice and the ability to remove their young children from that type of instruction.
The good news is that a judge has agreed that children should not be taught sex-related topics without their parents' permission. However, it is alarming that the school system and teachers made such a decision on their own. How often do these types of classes happen in school districts without brave mothers protesting?
