On February 17, 2026, Defending Education (DE) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson. The plaintiffs are challenging a Washington state law that encourages children struggling with their gender to run away from home to seek so-called “gender-affirming treatment.” Under the law, when these children run away, they are hidden from their parents and referred for controversial medical care meant to affirm a gender identity that doesn’t match their sex, all without any parental involvement.
Washington is sending a message to parents who hold traditional views on sex and gender: be quiet, or we will hide your child from you. This interferes with long-recognized parental rights. Yet a lower appeals court ruled that parents don’t even have “standing,” or the legal right, to challenge the law, leaving them with no way to fight it in court.
This case matters nationwide. DE urges the Supreme Court to take the case, settle these legal questions, and bring badly needed relief to parents across the country.
Read the full brief below: