The U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a group of Montgomery County parents do not have standing to challenge the school board’s policy on gender guidelines.
The guidelines allow students to be called by their preferred name and pronoun, use the restroom of their choice and prohibit schools from notifying parents without the student’s consent.
Last August, Reuters reported that a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that three parents lacked standing to challenge the policy because they had not alleged their children were transgender. U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum said without alleging their children were transgender or required gender support plans, the parents’ opposition was just a “policy disagreement.”
A coalition of 17 state attorneys general led by West Virginia AG Patrick Morrisey opposes the decision made by the Court. Virginia AG Jason Miyares joined the amicus brief in which the coalition supports parental rights and opposes the Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Education’s inclusion of a Parental Preclusion Policy in its “Guidelines for Student Gender Identity.”
“No parent wakes up and wants to co-parent with the government. Radical school boards across the country have tried to get in-between the important conversations of a parent and their child – and enough is enough,” Miyares said.
The coalition wrote in the brief that “‘…the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by the Court’ [is] the right of parents to direct the care and custody of their children.”
“Parents must have the right to ask for the courts’ help in securing the fundamental right to know what schools are doing with our kids,” the brief states.
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Rebecca Barnabi
