Should teachers be required to conceal basic information from parents about the wellbeing of their own children? Teachers in over 18,600 schools across the country are mandated by their school districts to do just that, according to the Heritage Foundation.

How parents are being kept in the dark

These mandates, known as “Parental Exclusion Policies,” force teachers to hide critical information about children’s gender confusion in school, to facilitate the “social transition” process of “gender-diverse” underage students. “Social transition” is the use of a new name and pronouns to validate a gender identity that is not consistent with a person’s sex.

Here’s how it works: Under these policies, teachers are required to use “any pronouns or a gender-specific name requested by a student” and if the student asks that teachers and administrators keep his or her parents in the dark, the school must comply with this request. In those cases, the teachers and school administrators must then revert to biological pronouns and legal names when speaking with parents in order to actively hide information about a child’s newly proclaimed “gender identity” from his or her parents.

By implementing such policies, school districts are boxing parents out and forcing elementary and middle school teachers to deceive parents about their own children. Instead of encouraging healthy relationship with parents, Parental Exclusion Policies create a dangerous tension between children and their parents, while drafting teachers into perpetuating a scheme of deception.

Moreover, by encouraging “social transition” without any parental involvement, these policies pose a dangerous risk of emotional, psychological, and even physical damage—sometimes permanently—to underage children who need the guidance of parents. But a federal court battle is raging to stop these dangerous Parental Exclusion Policies and Thomas More Society attorneys are on the front lines of this legal fight to safeguard parents’ rights.

A trifecta of harm

On behalf of two California teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, Thomas More Society attorneys are in the middle of a federal court battle to stop Parental Exclusion Policies. Elizabeth and Lori are two Escondido Union School District teachers who have, collectively, taught for over five decades. They know their young students, in grades K-8, are not ready or able to make life-altering decisions about their identity without the knowledge, involvement, and guidance of their parents. They refuse to lie to their students’ parents and betray the trust that they hold as teachers.

That’s why they decided to stand up to this scheme of deception and with the help of Thomas More Society attorneys, take their school district to federal court—in the federal lawsuit Mirabelli v. Olson. The importance of eliminating these gender secrecy policies in schools has become increasingly important as parents come forward to share the harm that they—and their children—have suffered because of Parental Exclusion Policies.

In September 2023, a federal judge issued a court order blocking the Escondido school district from enforcing its dangerous Parental Exclusion Policy against Elizabeth and Lori. In his landmark, first-of-its-kind court order, U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez called Parental Exclusion Policies “a trifecta of harm” that:

“...harms the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse. It harms the parents by depriving them of the long recognized Fourteenth Amendment right to care, guide, and make health care decisions for their children. And finally, it harms plaintiffs [teachers] who are compelled to violate the parent’s rights by forcing plaintiffs to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students—violating plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.”

Stopping the deception

While Elizabeth and Lori have won this first round, the legal battle is far from over. The groundbreaking court order only protects Elizabeth and Lori. But Thomas More Society attorneys are now fighting to invalidate Parental Exclusion Policies across the board—so that no teacher is forced to lie to parents and no parent must suffer this sort of scheme of deception.

Parental Exclusion Policies are unconstitutional and a blatant violation of the rights of mothers and fathers nationwide, who have a natural right to be involved in their children’s lives.

There is no question about it: Parents must be informed about the gender confusion that their children are grappling with—including those related to their child’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Without this information, it’s nearly impossible for a parent to properly care for their child’s needs and protect them against irreversible harm. Thomas More Society is fighting back against destructive gender secrecy policies across the country, which cause, in the words of Judge Benitez, “a trifecta of harm” against children, parents, and teachers.

To learn more about Thomas More Society’s legal battle against Parental Exclusion Policies, visit our case page by clicking here.