Court bars Madison school district from deceiving parents about children’s claimed gender identity

MADISON, Wis. – A state court issued an order Monday that prohibits the Madison Metropolitan School District from lying to or deceiving parents about the gender identity that their child may have adopted at school. The court’s injunction is in effect while a lawsuit against the district is on appeal.

The lawsuit, filed in February by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys together with lead counsel from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, challenges a school district policy that instructs district employees to assist children of any age to adopt a transgender identity at school upon the child’s request without notice to or consent from parents, to conceal from parents the fact that school personnel are doing this unless the child “consents” to the parents being told, and even instructs district employees to conceal these facts from parents. WILL and ADF attorneys represent multiple families at the school district in challenging the policy, which violates constitutionally protected parental rights.

“It should go without saying that school district staff should be honest with parents, especially when it comes to critical matters concerning their children, but we are pleased that the court has issued an order now requiring it,” said ADF Senior Counsel Roger Brooks. “As this case moves forward, we will continue to argue for our clients’ legitimate concern over the Madison Metropolitan School District’s policy of deceiving parents and excluding them from profound decisions involving the wellbeing of their own children.”

The order from the Circuit Court of Dane County in Doe v. Madison Metropolitan School District prohibits the school district “from applying or enforcing any policy, guideline, or practice reflected or recommended in its document entitled ‘Guidance & Policies to Support Transgender, Non-binary & Gender-Expansive Students’ in any manner that allows or requires District staff to conceal information or to answer untruthfully in response to any question that parents ask about their child at school, including information about the name and pronouns being used to address their child at school.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

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