A federal appeals court has rejected a parental rights-based objection to a Massachusetts school district’s policy of allowing students to determine whether their parents should be notified about gender transitions and their choice of new names and pronouns.
The policy “plausibly creates a space for students to express their identity without worrying about parental backlash,” said a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, in Boston. “By cultivating an environment where students may feel safe in expressing their gender identity, the protocol endeavors to remove psychological barriers for transgender students and equalizes educational opportunities.”
The Feb. 18 decision in Foote v. Ludlow School Committee comes amid a conservative-led backlash to school policies supporting transgender students, including President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders declaring that there are only two sexes and instructing his administration to develop policies to prohibit public schools from assisting gender transitions and to bar transgender students from girls’ sports. The U.S. Supreme Court, with a six-justice conservative majority, has signaled a growing interest in transgender issues in education.
