A Maine mom is suing her local school board for keeping her 13-year-old daughter’s “gender transition” a secret.
According to the lawsuit, Amber Lavigne found a chest binder — an undergarment used to flatten breasts so as to appear male — in her daughter’s belongings in December. Lavigne then discovered that a school social worker had given the chest binder to her daughter in October and was counseling her about transitioning genders. To make matters worse, the social worker told Lavigne’s daughter the school would not inform her parents about her transition and she would not need to tell them about it, either.
When Lavigne contacted school administrators about her daughter, officials tried to justify the counselor’s actions and referred to Lavigne’s daughter using a male name and pronouns.
“This was no accident: my daughter’s public school counselor deliberately tried to keep me in the dark, encouraging my daughter’s gender transition and encouraging her to hide it from me,” Lavigne said in a statement. “When school officials found out, they actually defended the counselor’s actions, trampling on my constitutional rights at every turn. I deserve to know what’s happening to my child — the secrecy needs to stop.”
Attorneys for the conservative advocacy group, the Goldwater Institute, are suing the Great Salt Bay Community School Board, the counselor, and other school officials on behalf of Lavigne. In February, the institute asked the school board to investigate the social worker’s actions, as well as adopt a policy that notifies parents of any decision made that will affect their child’s physical or mental health. The school refused to engage with Goldwater and instead put out statements saying all protocol was being followed. Yesterday, the institute filed a lawsuit against the school for violating the U.S. Constitution by refusing to notify Lavigne.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, over the last century, that parents have a fundamental right to control and direct the education, upbringing, and healthcare decisions of their children,” Adam Shelton, the Goldwater Institute’s lead attorney on the case, said. “But parents cannot meaningfully exercise this right if public schools hide vital information about their children from them — which is exactly what the Great Salt Bay Community School did to Ms. Lavigne.”
Unfortunately, this kind of blatant disregard for parental rights is becoming more prevalent in schools around the country as radical gender ideology becomes the norm and activist teachers seek to propagandize their students. In March, the Goldwater Institute filed a brief in support of a mom and dad in Massachusetts who sued their public school district for keeping their two pre-teen’s “gender identity” a secret.
The Goldwater Institute is also standing up for the rights of parents to find out what their children are being taught, whether it is sexual perversion, critical race ideology, or trans propaganda, as public schools across the country erect barriers to accessing such information.
Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.
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