A parent activist organization has filed a federal lawsuit against an Iowa school district over its policy of facilitating gender transitions for students without parental notice or approval.
Parents Defending Education sued Linn-Mar Community School District near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, claiming the district’s policy for establishing a “Gender Support Plan” violates legally protected parental rights and the First and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.
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The policy in question, enacted by the Linn-Mar school district in April, requires schools to create a “gender support plan” when a student claims they no longer identify with their biological sex and wish to adopt a new gender identity.
According to the lawsuit, the support plan must be formulated “without any knowledge or input from the child’s parents” and, when implemented, requires all school staff and students to address the student in question by their preferred name and pronoun. The lawsuit says the plan means school officials will edit students’ names on official documents and allow students to use bathroom and locker room facilities and participate in athletics based on their chosen identity.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that the policy actually prohibits school officials from disclosing a gender support plan to the student’s parents, even when the parent asks if one exists for their child.
“The policy violates parents’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit says. “The policy deprives parents of their right to know what actions the District is taking with regards to fundamentally important decisions about their children. … It is impossible for parents to direct the ‘care, custody, and control of their children’ when the government withholds critical information from them.”
Parents Defending Education founder and president Nicole Neily told the Washington Examiner that the district’s policy is a “gross betrayal” because of the trust parents place in schools to “educate their children and keep them safe.”
“Rather than focusing on reading, writing, and arithmetic, LMCSD is encouraging students to lead double lives beginning in seventh grade, keeping major life secrets from their loved ones while giving the false impression that their family members will not love or support them,” Neily said. “It’s hard to imagine a more destructive policy enacted in the name of ‘safety’ than this — which is why it is so important to fight this policy here and now.”
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The Washington Examiner has reached out to Linn-Mar Community School District for comment.
