The words “gender support plan” might seem harmless, even good, at first glance. After all, what’s not to like about a “support plan” for a struggling child? Yet, like much of the other terminology derived from gender ideology, the language is often meant to hide the devil in the details.
Across the country, many schools are unconstitutionally allowing, and even encouraging, children who are struggling with their identity to make life-altering decisions without informing their parents. In some instances, school administrators have gone so far as to instruct teachers and faculty not to inform parents about their children’s struggles at school. And they have done so under the guise of “gender support plans” for children struggling with questions about sex and gender.
But such gender support plans do not give real support to children. Instead, they drive a wedge between students and their parents when these children need their parents most.
Parents have the right and responsibility to direct the upbringing and education of their children. And children need their parents when they are struggling with challenging issues like their identity. When children express confusion or frustration with their biological sex at school, their parents should be the first people consulted. School administrators and parents should be working together to help students who are struggling, not keeping parents in the dark.
What do ‘gender support plans’ say?
At most schools that implement “gender support plans,” the plan starts during a meeting with a school counselor, who walks through the plan, filling it out for a student. Often, school officials intentionally leave parents out of this process. While these plans vary from school to school, they typically include the following elements:
- Student’s factual information: Most “gender support plans” begin with fields in which school officials may enter basic information about a student, such as legal name, sex, date of birth, grade level, and school attended. While these are all statements of fact, they often have corresponding sections relating to the student’s so-called “gender identity.”
- Student’s self-identity: Since the main point of these plans is for school officials to push a child into adopting an identity inconsistent with his or her sex, some of the factual information is accompanied by fields related to a “transition.” Most plans, for example, include lines for a student’s “preferred name,” “pronouns,” and “gender identity.” Even if this information is different from the student’s legal name and sex, teachers are expected to use it when referring to him or her.
- History of transition: Most plans include a brief outline of the student’s history regarding the transition to a new name or “gender identity.” Some also include a section describing whether the student is being seen by a medical professional.
- Knowledge and support of parents: Arguably the most objectionable portion of the typical plan is the instruction regarding parents. Most plans indicate whether a student’s parents are aware of the “transition” and whether they support it. But that’s not all.
- Confidentiality, privacy, and disclosure: When drafting a “gender support plan,” school officials typically direct children to identify who should be made aware of their “transition.” They can specify other students, faculty, and whether their parents should—or should not—be informed. In many cases, teachers are instructed not to discuss a student’s “transition” with parents unless the plan expressly permits disclosure to parents.
- Student Safety: Finally, many plans include various questions supposedly aimed at keeping a student “safe.” These can range from “What coping skills help the student if he is struggling?” to “What family dynamics should be considered?” But instead of having honest and important conversations with parents about these questions, school staff are expected to fill out the form with the student, often without parental knowledge.
‘Gender support plans’ present dangers to many people
Despite what schools claim when they roll out “gender support plans,” these plans do not make students safer. In fact, they present unique dangers to three specific categories of people.
Students
First and foremost, these plans hurt the students themselves. Children experiencing discomfort with their sex deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They need effective and compassionate mental healthcare. And they need their parents. No child should have to walk through something as difficult as struggling with their identity without the help of their parents. By excluding parents, denying biological reality to students, and depriving them of the help they need, school administrators are leading children down a dangerous path.
Such was the case for the daughter of Jennifer Vitsaxaki. After Jennifer noticed her daughter was struggling, she worked closely with school officials to do whatever was possible to ensure her daughter’s success. But in middle school, her daughter began to be bullied and eventually began experimenting with the idea of adopting different names and pronouns with encouragement from school officials. The school actively concealed this information from Jennifer, even lying to her about it after she explicitly asked if they were noticing anything going on with her daughter.
In secret, the middle school put Jennifer’s daughter on a “gender support plan.” The plan instructed school staff to use a masculine name and “they/them” pronouns when speaking to Jennifer’s daughter at school but use her given name and correct pronouns with Jennifer. If not for a courageous teacher who pressed the principal to tell Jennifer, this might have continued without Jennifer’s knowledge.
But after Jennifer found out what the school was doing, she told the school to stop. The school, however, said it was acting in accordance with district policy and would not stop. This left Jennifer with no choice but to pull her daughter from the school. Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on Jennifer’s behalf in January 2024.
Teachers and School Staff
Second, “gender support plans” threaten good teachers and faculty by forcing them to lie to students and parents. Instead of encouraging students to work through confusion in a healthy manner, they are instructed to deny the truth about what it means to be male and female and then hide information from parents.
This is what happened to Kathy McCord, a school counselor working for the South Madison Community School Corporation in Indiana. South Madison instituted its “gender support plan” in 2021, and it required employees to refer to some students by pronouns inconsistent with the student’s sex. Worse, for some of these students, district policy required using those incorrect pronouns during the school day while continuing to use correct pronouns in communications with parents.
Kathy expressed concerns about the policy. She believed it required her to lie to parents about their children. And she worried about the effect on kids if their parents were kept in the dark. But school district officials told her she had to put her personal beliefs aside and comply with school-developed secret social transition plans if she wanted to keep her job. Although she initially complied with the policy, she was later fired for confirming the details of the plan to a reporter who had already gathered the facts himself.
After ADF filed a lawsuit on Kathy’s behalf, the school district agreed to pay $195,000 in damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs in order to settle the lawsuit.
A similar situation also arose in Virginia with ADF client Deb Figliola. For the 2021-2022 school year, Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) developed and issued a “Gender Transition Action Plan,” which teachers were told to immediately implement.
HCPS also announced new related requirements, including a directive that HCPS staff must ask for and use any name or pronoun a student requests, even if inconsistent with the student’s sex. It also required staff to hide such requests from parents unless HCPS employees determined the child’s parents were sufficiently “supportive” of their child’s “transition.”
But Deb couldn’t lie to parents or students, so she and two other teachers stood up to this unconstitutional policy. Thankfully, HCPS eventually agreed to respect the constitutional rights of the teachers and settled the lawsuit.
Parents
Finally, “gender support plans” harm parents by violating their basic right to direct the upbringing of their children. Parents have a responsibility to care for their children, especially when they are struggling, and school administrators have no right to exclude them from the lives of their children.
January and Jeffrey Littlejohn discovered that their child’s middle school in Florida created a “gender support plan” for their 13-year-old daughter behind their backs. The plan included referring to their daughter by a different name, using “they/them” pronouns, and asking whether she wanted to use opposite-sex privacy facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms. This all happened without telling the Littlejohns. It wasn’t until their daughter mentioned a meeting with school officials in an off-handed comment that they learned what the school was doing.
The Littlejohns, represented by allies Child & Parental Rights Campaign (CPRC) and Consovoy McCarthy, filed a lawsuit against the school district for violating their parental rights. After lower courts dismissed their lawsuit, the Littlejohns asked the Supreme Court to hear their case. ADF filed an amicus brief in support of their petition. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court declined to hear their case in April 2026.
‘Gender support plans’ violate parental rights
Parents have a right to know what is happening to their children. Parents love their children most and are in the position to know them best. Schools can’t keep secrets from parents about their own children’s mental health and well-being.
When school district policies require concealing information from parents, kids get hurt. And when school districts force teachers or other school staff to lie to parents, this violates the rights of both the school staff and the parents.
ADF will continue defending the rights of students, educators, and parents and challenging dangerous “gender support plans” across the country.
Related Articles
