Supreme Court won’t hear parents’ challenge to school district hiding gender transitions

May 20, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the complaint of a group of Maryland parents who are pushing back on gender identity guidelines in Maryland’s largest school district.

The Christian Post reports that the high court denied without comment a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County Board of Education. The case arose after the Montgomery County Board of Education enacted guidelines in the 2020-2021 school year allowing schools to withhold information from parents regarding students’ gender identity and preferred pronouns.

In August of 2022, U.S. District judge Paul Grimm ruled against the group of anonymous parents who filed a complaint against the school district over the policy.

In his ruling, Grimm stated: “The Guidelines carefully balance the interests of both the parents and students, encouraging parental input when the student consents, but avoiding it when the student expresses concern that parents would not be supportive, or that disclosing their gender identity to their parents may put them in harm’s way.”

According to the Christian Post, last August, a 3 judge panel upheld Grimm’s ruling 2-1, concluding that the parents lacked standing to sue because they have “not alleged that their children have gender support plans, are transgender or [are] even struggling with issues of gender identity.”

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case comes just days after a three judge panel on the 4th Circuit ruled 2-1 that Montgomery County does not have to allow parents with religious objections to opt their children out classes with LGBT material.

Photo: top, Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images