Case may decide if Michigan schools must tell parents of kids’ gender identity

Do schools have an obligation to tell parents if their children identify as a different gender?
Michigan says schools should go on a ‘case by case basis,’ guidance that is in dispute in a Rockford schools
A judge says a lawsuit can proceed from parents alleging their rights were violated

A federal judge last week allowed a west Michigan lawsuit to proceed that could have broad implications for whether public schools must inform parents about LGBTQ children’s gender identities.

The judge ruled as “plausible” a couple’s claim that the Rockford schools in Kent County violated their rights when its staff failed to tell them about its decision to call their child by a different name and pronouns.

The district based its actions on a 2016 “guidance” from the state board of education that schools should take a “student-centered approach” for LGBTQ youths and notify parents on a “case-by-case basis.” In February, state Superintendent Michael Rice, who is retiring next month, affirmed those guidelines.

US District Judge Paul Maloney last week ruled that the case brought by Dan and Jennifer Mead can go forward, rejecting part of the district’s legal effort to get the case tossed out.

Maloney said the case involved the couple’s “fundamental rights as parents in the care, custody and control of their child” — rights the judge contends are protected by the 14th Amendment.

“The Supreme Court has long held that parents possess a right to direct their children’s health care, upbringing, and education,” Maloney wrote.

The Meads’ attorney, Vincent Wagner, called it a “significant victory for all parents.”

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Maloney’s decision does not mean the case is settled; it would still need to go to trial and survive potential appeals. Maloney did, however, dismiss the Meads’ claim that the district infringed on its right to practice its religion.

The Rockford district, in a message to Bridge Michigan, acknowledged the legal defeat and said the case was continuing.

“Out of respect for the family and the student and to continue to protect their privacy we have no further comment,” Superintendent Steve Matthews wrote in an email.

At issue are guidelines from Michigan about ensuring an “inclusive school environment for all students.” While stressing that the protocols are “voluntary,” the state board of education told districts that “when students have not come out to their parent(s), a disclosure to parent(s) should be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis, school districts should consider the health, safety, and well-being of the student, as well as the responsibility to keep parents informed.”

After President Donald Trump took office in January and began issuing executive orders about gender ideology, Rice reached out to public educators to affirm the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

He pointed to the 2016 guidance and the 2023 extension of the state’s civil rights law to prohibit discrimination “on the bases of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”

“All children—no exceptions—deserve safe, welcoming schools. All have the right to be free from bullying and discrimination,” Rice wrote. “All means all, including LGBTQ+ students. We educate, protect, and support all our children. Students arrive with their own unique experiences, identities, and needs. We have a moral and professional responsibility to them all.”

Surveys show 1 in 4 Michigan high school students identify as LGBTQ, Rice said, a population which are also far more likely to face physical threats, get poor grades or consider suicide.

A ‘cover-up’?

According to the case, the Meads said they worked closely with the district, beginning in 2020, on helping their child who had been struggling academically.

The Meads consider the child their daughter. At the end of the year, the child sought to be identified by a masculine name and pronoun.

The district complied and it continued to do so the following school year — but didn’t inform the parents of that decision for over a year.In fact, according to Maloney’s order, on the same day that district officials exchanged messages among themselves referring to the student by their chosen gender, they referred to the student by their biological name and gender in an email to Jennifer Mead.

To Maloney, this amounted to a “cover-up” in which the district “went so far as to alter any documents” sent to the Meads to include the name and pronouns the parents were using, not the ones that teachers and staff were using.

The Meads also alleged that the district’s actions also interfered with the student’s “medical health treatment” by engaging in “psychosocial intervention for … gender dysphoria.” Maloney argued that was a plausible argument for the court to ultimately decide.

The Meads later chose to homeschool their child.

Messages to attorneys for the Meads and the district were not returned.

Maloney was nominated to the federal bench in 2007 by President George W. Bush. He had served as a circuit court judge in Berrien County in southwest Michigan for over 20 years before joining the US District Court based in Grand Rapids.

Flashpoint in 2022 governor race

Advice to educators regarding LGBTQ students was a brief flashpoint in the 2022 governor’s race when Republican challenger Tudor Dixon flagged several videos put out by the Michigan Department of Education.

In those videos, developed for viewing by teachers and other staff around the state, a trainer was asked if teachers are required to tell a parent about a child’s gender orientation or pronouns if they are aware of a student’s suicidal thoughts.

The trainer said they are required to report suicidal thoughts. But she also said they can talk to parents about those thoughts “without ‘outing’ them, without saying why.”

To Dixon and national conservative writer Christopher Rufo, this amounted to hiding information from parents.

After Dixon challenged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer about the videos, Whitmer’s chief operating officer, Tricia Foster, wrote a scathing letter to Rice, saying the department should make changes to “continue bringing parents’ perspectives into the work you do.”

Rice’s department defended the training videos as part of an ongoing effort to “provide safe, supportive, and inclusive school climates where all students can thrive—especially students who identify as LGBTQ+.”

Earlier this month Jennifer Mead participated in a hearing by the Religious Liberty Commission discussion regarding religious liberty in public education, which President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi also attended.

“It is our God-given duty to guide them emotionally, physically and spiritually,” Mead said. “And as a mother when I place my children in the temporary care of others at school, I don’t surrender my parental rights.”

“Like most parents my husband and I expected transparency and truth about how our children are doing in school to help them along their way. But tragically that was not our story.”