Palmetto State News

Attorney General Alan Wilson leads 12-state coalition appealing case that undermines parental rights

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson led a 12-state coalition that filed a brief Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a case concerning parental rights. The brief requests the Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a parent who alleges that a school facilitated their child's gender transition without parental knowledge.

“Schools have to get a parent’s permission to give a child medicine or take a child on a field trip, so it’s ridiculous to think schools should be able to help a child with something as drastic as gender transition without informing a parent,” Attorney General Wilson stated.

The brief contends that some states have explicitly prohibited policies that keep such information from parents. “Withholding policies often not only violate these state laws but also infringe fundamental, long-standing constitutional rights,” the attorneys general wrote.

In this case, a parent sued her local school board and several school officials, claiming they withheld information about her child's gender identity. She asserts that school officials did not inform her that her child was using a new name and pronouns and that they provided chest binders to assist in the gender transition.

The attorneys general argue that both the school and the lower court overlooked parents' rights to “direct the upbringing and education of children under their control.”

You can read the brief here.