Wisconsin court to rule on whether school district can allow gender transitions without parental OK

A Wisconsin state court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging a Kettle Moraine School District policy that requires schools to allow students to undergo a social gender transition even if the child’s parent objects.

The case was filed in 2021 by the parents of two families who said the district’s policies violate their parental rights. One of the plaintiffs withdrew her daughter from the school district after school officials insisted that her daughter, who at the time was depressed and claimed to be transgender, be addressed by a boy’s name and male pronouns.

DESANTIS ADMINISTRATION BANS ANY CLASSROOM DISCUSSION ON GENDER IDENTITY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION

The mother, who asked only to be identified as Tammy, said she had placed her daughter in a mental health facility after the young girl reported symptoms of depression and gender dysphoria. Tammy said she only pulled her daughter out of the school district when they refused to honor her wishes that the school not entertain the girl’s desire to be addressed by a different name.

“As a mother, my responsibility to know as well and do what’s in the best interest of my children,” Tammy told the Washington Examiner in an interview shortly after Wednesday’s oral arguments. “I was informed by multiple members of the district that they are there to support the child and not a parent and whether I wanted [a] different medical treatment was not relevant, and they were going to support whatever decision my daughter made.”

Tammy and the other unnamed family are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty, two conservative legal advocacy organizations. She told the Washington Examiner that her daughter ultimately decided that she was not transgender.

Luke Berg, an attorney for WILL, said the Wednesday oral argument went well and that he was optimistic the court would rule against the school district.

“It’s hard to read the tea leaves, but based on the questions, the judge seemed to signal that he agreed with us that this was a violation of parents’ constitutional right,” Berg said in an interview. “We’re very optimistic that the court will rule in our favor.”

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The attorney said that the court’s eventual ruling would have “significant implications” and that a win for the plaintiffs would force the school district to change its policies. Such a ruling, he said, would also have “persuasive value nationwide” because a large number of school districts across the country have adopted similar policies toward students who inform school administrators that they have gender dysphoria and do not wish to identify with their biological sex.

“We’re hopeful that courts will begin to recognize that these policies violate parents’ rights,” Berg said. “That will hopefully persuade school districts to adopt different policies to actually require parental consent, and a number of school districts in Wisconsin already have done that in response to this lawsuit, but we’re hoping [to have] a court hold that this violates parents rights.”