CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court supporting parents’ rights and opposing the Maryland county school board’s inclusion of a Parental Preclusion Policy in its “Guidelines for Student Gender Identity.”
The 17-state coalition opposes the decision made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit which said a group of Montgomery County parents do not have standing to challenge the school board’s policy on gender guidelines. The guidelines allow students to be called by their preferred name and pronoun and use the restroom of their choice and prohibit schools from notifying parents without the student’s consent.
“This egregious policy completely sidesteps parents’ rights and severs them from having involvement in their child’s physical, emotional, mental and social well-being,” Morrisey said. “Any time any organization or institution seeks to hide what they do when our children are in their care, it’s a huge red flag.
“Why would a school board encourage students to keep secrets from their parents?”
The coalition wrote in the brief that “‘…the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by the court’ [is] the right of parents to direct the care and custody of their children. … Parents must have the right to ask for the courts’ help in securing the fundamental right to know what schools are doing with our kids.”
Morrisey expanded on that thought.
“Excluding parents from being part of these discussions and decisions is wrong,” Morrisey said. “While some argue that keeping parents out of the loop is for students’ safety, they are opposing parents’ rights to ensure the best care for their child.”
Joining the brief are the AGs from Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals case number 23-601