Victoria Cobb, President
Friday, July 12, 2024
The past few weeks have been good for our efforts to defend parental rights and protect student privacy and safety in Virginia public schools.
1) In June a federal judge blocked the Biden Administration's new Title IX rules, siding with Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and attorney generals in five other states - Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia.
The judge's ruling prevents the U.S. Department of Education from "implementing, enacting, enforcing, or taking any action to enforce" the final re-write of the Title IX rule, which was set to begin Aug. 1.
If these new rules were to be implemented, Virginia schools would have to allow males self-identifying as female—in every grade from preschool through college—to use female restrooms and locker rooms, participate in girls' sports teams, and in other female-only activities, or risk losing federal funding… or worse, be disciplined for harassment.
This ruling, however, upholds the clear text and meaning of the Title IX law and protects decades of advancements for women.
2) This week Attorney General Jason Miyares announced he is leading a multi-state coalition to file an amicus brief requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a Wisconsin case aimed at reaffirming a parent's fundamental right to direct the health and well-being of their children.
In 2021, a Wisconsin school district established a policy allowing students to change their gender identity at school – including names, pronouns, and use of facilities like locker rooms and bathrooms – without parental notification or consent. The policy was challenged by a group of concerned parents, but a district court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case for a lack of standing.
This issue is important to Virginia, as Governor Youngkin's education department revised state model policies for transgender issues in schools - published under the Northam administration - that threatened parental rights and jeopardized student privacy and safety, to put parents back in the driver's seat of their child's health and well-being.
And for the past two years The Family Foundation has been working with legislators to pass Sage's Law, which ensures parents are notified if their child is social transitioning while at school; prohibits school counselors from talking about gender identity with a student unless a parent has provided consent; and prevents the state from targeting parents who affirm their child's biological reality.
This case would allow the Supreme Court to provide much-needed clarity on this issue and reaffirm that government officials cannot undermine parents' fundamental rights.
After several years of playing defense against this radical gender ideology, it feels good to see our government be on the offense protecting parental rights and the privacy and safety of young girls.
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