OPINION:
Since 2020, I’ve had a front-row seat to some of the actions that public schools have been taking with our children without parents being aware.
After learning about gender identities in school from her peer group, my 13-year-old daughter began to question her own sex, believing she had gender dysphoria.
As a mental health professional, I looked into the clinical research and found that social transitioning — changing a child’s name, pronouns and gender identity — was a deeply contested practice that didn’t seem right for my child. There was no research on socially transitioning kids like her — teenage girls going through puberty who suddenly started identifying as transgender with no previous history of distress over their sex.
As parents, we chose to support our daughter through therapy and love, which we felt she needed the most, and told her school we wouldn’t affirm her request for a new name and pronouns at home.
However, without our knowledge or consent, my daughter’s school blindly affirmed her assumed identity, and facilitated her social transition in a private meeting behind our backs. Three adults at the school sat down with her and completed a Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Support Plan.
These “gender support plans,” instituted at schools without parental consent, allow children to choose an alternate name, pronouns, restrooms, locker rooms, sports teams, and which sex they will room with on overnight field trips. And all of this happens with multiple school officials present, but no parent.
Even more disturbing, the guides that direct school officials to complete these “support plans” systematically cut all parents out of these critical mental health decisions by stating that parental notification is not only unnecessary, but could actually put the child at risk of homelessness and abuse.
Schools are socially transitioning children to transgender identities without parental consent or notification, and it’s happening all over our country.
Schools throughout the U.S. have similar guidance or practices in place. Many of these guides use the same language. One of the most disturbing elements of these plans is that they clearly and methodically cut the parents out of these decisions by telling school personnel to not inform the parents unless the child gives expressed permission.
Parental rights are not partisan, and our children are not political pawns.
This is why Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law is so important to parents of all political views. While those who oppose ensuring parents are involved in their child’s education like to call this the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, it’s important to look beyond this partisan moniker to understand what the bill is, and how it transcends politics.
Parental Rights in Education doesn’t prevent students from talking about their two dads or two moms. It eliminates teachers’ instruction of sexual orientation or gender identities in grades K-3 — our youngest, most impressionable students.
More importantly, for grades K-12, it requires schools to notify a parent when there is a change in the student’s services related to their mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being. And, schools will no longer be able to adopt a Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Support Plan without notifying the parents.
Parents are moms and dads first before they are a Democrat, independent or Republican. And most parents, regardless of political party, support parental rights in education because they, too, don’t want to be cut out of critical conversations occurring at schools between government school officials and their children.
My own parental rights, which are constitutionally bestowed upon me, were so callously violated by the school that I am suing it. It’s one of two lawsuits in Florida over schools’ secret social transitions, joining lawsuits in Wisconsin, Maryland, Massachusetts and California.
Experts report that children’s brains are not fully developed until they reach adulthood — around 25. This is why children cannot enter into legal contracts or consent to medical or mental health treatment without parental consent. As parents, it is our job to protect our children from harm and ensure they aren’t making choices that will lead to negative life outcomes.
Why should socially transitioning children be exempt from these basic rules of maturity and parenting?
If a parent is in fact a danger to their child, there are state laws that mandate school personnel to report suspected abuse or neglect to child protective services, where court processes protect both the well-being of children and the rights of parents. But to assume all parents are a danger to their child in this one area is not only wrong, it is against the law.
You may disagree with how I handled this situation with my child. However, the question everyone should be asking is, do you want government school officials, some you have never met, alone in a room behind closed doors with your child? Do you want these adults discussing topics that will impact your child’s physical or emotional well-being without you being present or even notified of the meeting? Are you willing to allow adults to impress their values on your child at school?
Parents know and love their children more than anyone else. Parents are not an interest group, and engaging parents in their child’s education is not partisan.
This is 100% a parental rights issue, and it’s what is best for our children.
• January Littlejohn is a wife, mom of three and mental health professional from Tallahassee, Florida.
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