A local school social worker had no right to aid Amber Lavigne’s 13-year-old in a so-called “gender transition” without Amber’s consent. And the school’s leaders had no right to back a plan to keep Amber in the dark about it. Now, after years of litigation and national media attention, 19 states have joined the Goldwater Institute’s call to ask the Supreme Court to vindicate Amber’s constitutional right as a parent to control and direct the education and upbringing of her child.
After petitioning the Supreme Court about Amber’s case late last year, the Goldwater Institute filed its final brief on Friday—the last step before the Court decides whether to hear the case. And 19 states, led by South Carolina, are now backing the Institute’s petition and have asked the Court to safeguard parental rights and to clarify that those rights do not end at the schoolhouse door.
Goldwater attorneys made their arguments in response to a brief the Court ordered from the Great Salt Bay Community School Board in Maine. The Institute argues that despite having a written policy requiring parental involvement for addressing the needs of transgender students, Great Salt Bay actually follows an unwritten policy of withholding information from parents.
In their brief, the coalition of states argues that a previous court “applied a flawed legal analysis” to reject Amber’s claims without even addressing the constitutional violations. The states contend that with disputes like Amber’s proliferating around the country—millions of American students still attend schools with policies of withholding gender-identity information from parents—the Court should provide “clarity” so “legislatures, state boards of education, and local school districts can conform policies to federal law.”
Amber’s dispute with Great Salt Bay Community School began in early December 2022, when she was helping to clean her child’s room and discovered a chest binder—an undergarment used to flatten breasts so the wearer appears more like a male. She learned that her child had received the binder from a social worker at school. The social worker said he would keep it a secret from Amber and that the child didn’t have to tell Amber, either.
By the time Amber discovered the chest binder, school personnel had already been referring to her child by a different name and pronouns, effectively “socially transitioning” the child in secret. When Amber confronted the school principal and superintendent about the secrecy, they only justified the social worker’s actions. They told Amber the social worker hadn’t violated any school policy by giving her 13-year-old a chest binder without informing her about it.
The Goldwater Institute took up Amber’s case, asserting that the school was violating her constitutional rights as a parent.
“This situation is really about my parental rights being violated. It’s about a social worker who had never even had a conversation with me encouraging my child to keep secrets from me and telling my child that he wasn’t going to tell me about it so my child could keep it from me too,” Amber said. “I have three kids who need an education and I would love to be able to send them to a public school, but in the current environment I’m not comfortable with that. Our goal as parents is to raise amazing human beings who contribute to society, who care about other human beings, and to be left out of such a life altering decision just doesn’t make sense.”
“Not only does it not make sense, by keeping this information from Amber, the Great Salt Bay Community School violated the U.S. Constitution,” Goldwater Institute attorney Adam Shelton said. “We are asking the Supreme Court to step in and make it clear that parents like Amber have a right to know when public school officials make important decisions affecting the mental health and physical wellbeing of their children.”
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents have a fundamental right to control and direct the education and upbringing of their children. But parents can’t meaningfully exercise this right if public schools hide vital information about actions they’re taking that directly affect the mental and physical wellbeing of their kids.
The Court has an opportunity now to protect Amber’s parental rights—and the rights of parents around the country—by making it easier for them to hold their local public schools accountable and declaring that the Constitution’s protections include the right of parents to know what is happening in school, including when a school takes steps to affirm their child’s transgender status.
As the Supreme Court considers this case, the Goldwater Institute will continue to stand up for parents like Amber and to empower moms and dads nationwide to make informed decisions about what’s best for their children.
You can read the Goldwater Institute’s brief to the Supreme Court here and read the coalition of states’ brief here.
Click here to read more about the case.
