Federal appeals court rules school district can continue to keep student gender transitions from parents

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A Maryland school district can continue to keep students' gender transitions from their parents after a federal appeals court ruled the plaintiffs didn't have standing in the case because they did not allege their children were transgender, according to the Monday ruling. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit dismissed the case in a 2 to 1 ruling, which was brought by three parents of students at Montgomery County Public Schools over the district's "gender support plan." The guidelines for transgender-identifying students adopted by the Montgomery County Board of Education in 2020-2021, address a student's identified name, pronouns, athletics, extracurricular activities, locker rooms, bathrooms, "safe spaces, safe zones, and other safety supports." 

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Plaintiffs in the case dubbed the guideline in question, the "Parental Preclusion Policy," which their lawyers with the National Legal Foundation argued were a violation of their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

 "Prior to contacting a student’s parent/guardian, the principal or identified staff member should speak with the student to ascertain the level of support the student either receives or anticipates receiving from home," the guidelines state. 

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U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum said the parents' opposition to the guidelines didn't give them standing in the case and rendered it a "policy disagreement" because they didn't allege their children had gender support plans of their own. 

"The parents have not alleged that their children have gender support plans, are transgender or are even struggling with issues of gender identity," the court's decision stated. "As a result, they have not alleged facts that the Montgomery County public schools have any information about their children that is currently being withheld or that there is a substantial risk information will be withheld in the future."

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Even though the court said they lack the power to address parental objections to the guidelines, that "does not mean their objections are invalid" and "In fact, they may be quite persuasive," the decision stated.

Steven W. Fitschen, the president of the National Legal Foundation, told Fox News Digital that his organization agrees with Judge Niemeyer’s dissenting option that "parents have a right to object to the policy at issue in this case because it allows the schools to keep secret from parents how they are treating their children at school."

"This is a clear violation of parental rights," he added. "Parents do not have to wait until they find out that damage has been done in secret before they can object. Furthermore, the very existence of the policy affects family dynamics, as Judge Niemeyer also pointed out. We will be asking the Supreme Court to accept the case for review."

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