Three major school districts have been accused of letting students conceal their gender identity from parents as their superintendents prepare to come before Congress Wednesday.
Chicago Public Schools, San Francisco Unified School District, and Loudoun County (Va.) Public Schools were all hit with complaints at the Justice Department and Education Department over their gender policies from conservative watchdog America First Legal (AFL).
“These school districts have constructed elaborate systems to hide what is happening to children from the very people who have a fundamental right to know: their parents,” AFL senior counsel Ian Prior said in a statement.
“Parents are not the enemy, and the era of school districts secretly facilitating life-altering decisions for children behind their parents’ backs must come to an end.”
The complaints argue that all three districts allow students to change the pronouns and names they go by without apprising parents.
They are also accused of allowing transgender females to compete in girls’ sports and access women-only facilities, including bathrooms and locker rooms.
AFL is urging the Trump administration to consider yanking federal funding from all three districts, citing their publicly stated policies.
“All students have a right to self-determination. This includes the right to keep their sexuality and gender identity, including transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming identities, confidential at school,” Chicago Public Schools’ policy says.
The Windy City district’s policy toolkit also clarifies that parents are not to be informed of any gender-related changes unless the child consents.
Similar to other cases, AFL cites the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars schools that discriminate based on sex from getting federal funds.
AFL further accused the three school districts of improperly pushing “gender ideology” in the classroom without proper parental input.
“These burdens are compounded by the District’s active promotion of gender ideology in classroom instruction … without parental notice, consent, or an opportunity to opt out,” the group said in its complaint against San Francisco.
“And because the policy elevates the interests of some students while offering objecting families no comparable accommodation, it likely runs afoul of the Free Exercise Clause.”
The Post reached out to all three school districts for comment.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce is set to hold a hearing with superintendents from all three schools to investigate their handling of parental rights and inappropriate content in the classroom.
“Congress and the executive branch need to take a serious look at these schools,” Prior said, “and take every action available to remedy these legal violations.”
