The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, regarding an order Friday from a Michigan federal district court reviving the parents’ religious liberty challenge and stating that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta—a resounding parental rights victory—applies to Dan and Jennifer Mead’s claim that Rockford Public School District violated the couple’s parental rights by treating their middle-school daughter as a boy without their knowledge or consent and taking steps to conceal its actions:
“Parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children—without government interference. Schools should never hide vital information from parents, yet that’s exactly what the Rockford Public School District did. District employees didn’t even notify Dan and Jennifer Mead—let alone seek their consent—before beginning to call their young daughter by a masculine name and male pronouns. Worse, district policy required altering official records to conceal the district’s actions. By intentionally concealing this information from the Meads, the school district violated their constitutional rights as parents to make critical decisions about their daughter. The court’s ruling is a necessary step toward protecting the Mead family’s First Amendment rights.”
In its ruling in Mead v. Rockford Public School District, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan wrote, “[Rockford Public School District] do[es] not give the court any reason to treat the policies here any differently. In their response, [school district officials] argue, once again, that the school’s discretion to notify parents (in light of its responsibility to keep them informed) is narrowly tailored to meet their interest in promoting student safety and success. But school discretion here is only as narrowly tailored as the policies in Mirabelli: the policies do not factor in parents’ views and, as a result, they ‘cut’ parents out. So, in light of Mirabelli, the Meads have stated a claim for a violation of the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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