A New Legal Memo Released from The Heritage Foundation Explains the Unconstitutionality of Public School Policies that Exclude Parents
On 6.12.2024 The Heritage Foundation Published a legal memo “Public School Gender Policies That Exclude Parents Are Unconstitutional”
Thank you to the Heritage Foundation and memo authors Sarah Perry and Thomas Jipping for providing the legal argument to help those understand where parental fight fit in with the Biden Administration implementing their new Title IX rules on schools nationwide on August 1st, 2024.
“No legal or policy area is more fraught with definitional and categorical confusion than gender ideology. Trying to make some sense out of it is beyond the scope of this Legal Memorandum. Nevertheless, for purposes of this analysis, a few key terms that often appear in the school gender policies examined below must be defined.”
Citizens Defending Freedom has been on the front line on the Title IX battle for well over a year.
SUMMARY OF THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION MEMO
Parents’ constitutional right to direct the upbringing and education of their children is the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests ever recognized by the Supreme Court. But a rapidly growing number of school districts across the country, already more than 1,000, have policies denying parents even the knowledge that their children may have expressed a desire to change their gender identity and any say in how school personnel respond. The nature of this problem, the surge in transgender-identifying youth, and the well-established rights of parents call for more, not less. Parents must act now to force school districts to change these transition policies, urge state legislatures to prohibit them, and, if necessary, defend their rights in court.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HERITAGE FOUNDATION MEMO
The Supreme Court has long recognized parents’ fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children.
Many school districts prioritize children’s gender-related choices while actively excluding parents knowing of—let alone participating in—those choices.
A minor child’s parents are not only in the best position to address that child’s self-professed gender identity, but they also have the right to do so.
I will be reviewing this memo over the next day and will write an article with more information in the next day or so.
Original Source: https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/public-school-gender-policies-exclude-parents-are-unconstitutional