West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares have joined a 17-state coalition that has filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court supporting parents’ rights in a Maryland case.
The legal filing from the 17 states, which are jumping into the so-called culture wars, opposes the Montgomery County, Md. Board of Education’s inclusion of a Parental Preclusion Policy in its “Guidelines for Student Gender Identity.” The amicus brief opposes a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit which ruled that a group of Montgomery County parents do not have a legal standing to challenge the school board’s policy on gender guidelines. Those guidelines allow students to be called by their preferred name and pronoun and to use the restroom of their choice while also prohibiting schools from notifying parents without the student’s consent.
“This egregious policy completely sidesteps parents’ rights and severs them from having involvement in their child’s physical, emotional, mental and social well-being,” Morrisey said. “Any time any organization or institution seeks to hide what they do when our children are in their care, it’s a huge red flag. Why would a school board encourage students to keep secrets from their parents?”
