Judge Bars School District From Hiding Students’ Gender Identities From Parents

A court in Wisconsin ruled this week officials with the Madison Metropolitan School District cannot intentionally hide from parents information regarding their children’s chosen gender identities in schools.

Dane County Court Judge Frank Remington issued a temporary injunction against a portion of the MMSD guidance in question, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Remington’s decision comes months after a lawsuit was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) and the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of an anonymous group of parents whose children are enrolled in MMSD schools.

WILL argued at the time such an informal guidance—while not an officially adopted district policy—encourages employees to actively “deceive” parents about their children’s gender-based decisions.

The memo, “Guidance and Policies to Support Transgender, Non-binary and Gender-Expansive Students,” is a violation of parental rights as well as religious liberty rights, according to the plaintiffs.

In his decision to issue a temporary injunction, Remington made clear his ruling is not holistic. His injunction “does not create an affirmative obligation to disclose information if that obligation does not already exist at law.” Rather, it requires MMSD faculty and staff members to disclose information about students’ gender identities if parents raise the matter.

Luke Berg, deputy counsel for WILL, described Remington’s decision as “an important win for parental rights.”

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at Faithwire. {eoa}