Family Council Backs NY Mom Suing School for Hiding Daughter’s Gender Transition

Transgender,

Last week, Family Council joined dozens of other pro-family organizations from across the country in an amicus brief supporting parental rights.

The case centers on a New York school district that treated a middle-school girl as if she were a boy without her mother’s knowledge or consent. The girl’s mother, Jennifer Vitsaxaki, sued the school district after learning her daughter was secretly “socially transitioned” at school.

The lawsuit alleges,

Not one School District employee notified Mrs. Vitsaxaki or sought her consent before socially transitioning her daughter. Worse, although those employees knew about the School District’s actions, they told Mrs. Vitsaxaki nothing. School staff carefully used Jane’s given name and female pronouns when speaking with Mrs. Vitsaxaki, and they repeatedly said everything was fine, all the while treating [her daughter] as a boy and sending her resources for medical transition behind Mrs. Vitsaxaki’s back.

The amicus brief we joined last week argues that parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing and care of their children. In this case, the school violated that fundamental right.

Over the years, we have seen pro-LGBT activists use public schools to promote transgender ideology to kids in many different ways. Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have recently spoken out about how schools are hiding important information about students from their parents. But policymakers are pushing back.

Arkansas has enacted laws to help prevent schools from socially transitioning children or promoting radical pro-LGBT ideology in the classroom, but federal lawsuits like this one could affect schools nationwide. That’s why it’s important for us to stand up for parental rights in this case.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Arkansas Urges Court to Uphold SAFE Act Following Supreme Court Ruling

Transgender, ,

On Thursday, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office made a filing with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of the state’s law protecting children from sex-change procedures.

In 2021, Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. Unfortunately, a federal judge blocked the law, and the SAFE Act is currently before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

However, on Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law protecting children from these same procedures, drugs, and hormones. That good ruling should pave the way for federal courts to let Arkansas enforce the SAFE Act as well.

On Thursday, Arkansas Solicitor General Autumn Hamit Patterson filed a letter with the Eighth Circuit informing the judges about the new court decision. The letter says the supreme court’s ruling reinforces the A.G.’s arguments that Arkansas’ SAFE Act is constitutional.

The letter notes that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tennessee’s law did not discriminate on the basis of sex or gender identity, and it argues that the SAFE Act should be upheld, in light of the ruling.

Sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones can leave children permanently scarred, sterilized, and at risk of serious health conditions.

Last fall, medical experts at the organization Do No Harm released a report showing that from 2019 to 2023, dozens of children in Arkansas underwent sex-change surgeries or were prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Doctors do not know the long-term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones might have on people. However, files leaked from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) organization make it clear that medical professionals performing gender-transitions on kids have been fully aware that these procedures can lead to lasting regret and complications — some of which may even be life-threatening.

Since 2021, a major hospital in Sweden has announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids, the U.K. has adopted policies that protect children from puberty blockers, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a warning label to puberty blockers after discovering they caused some biological girls to experience swelling in the brain.

In a comprehensive study published last year, Finnish researchers found transgender surgeries did not appear to resolve the underlying emotional and mental issues that youth with gender dysphoria faced.

And gender clinics have been shown to rush children and families through the transition process without adequate informed-consent and mental health screenings.

Arkansas — and other states — need to be able to protect children from these procedures.

It’s great to see Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office urging the Eighth Circuit to let the state enforce the SAFE Act.

Arkansas’ SAFE Act is a good law that protects children.

We believe the Eighth Circuit will recognize that fact and let the state enforce this good law.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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A.G. Griffin Steps In to Defend Ten Commandments Law

Religious Freedom, ,
Attorney General Tim Griffin was approved on Wednesday to intervene in a lawsuit over legislation placing copies of the Ten Commandments in public schools and buildings (File Photo Credit: Facebook).

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin will be allowed to intervene in a federal lawsuit over a measure placing copies of the Ten Commandments in Arkansas’ public schools and buildings.

Arkansas law requires a copy of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings. Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requires a copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed as well.

The measure received strong support in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, and Act 573 is slated to take effect in August.

However, lawyers from the ACLU and a group of atheist organizations filed complaints in court to block Act 573.

The lawsuit was filed specifically against four public school districts:

  • The Fayetteville School District
  • The Springdale School District
  • The Bentonville School District
  • The Siloam Springs School District

Ordinarily it might be up to the school districts’ attorneys to defend the districts in court. However, on Wednesday, Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office received approval to intervene in the lawsuit — meaning his team will be able to defend Act 573 in court.

Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states are free to honor and recognize documents or symbols that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto.

The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law, and they have had a profound impact in shaping our society and our government.

During her testimony in support of Act 573 last April, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court uses a “longstanding history and tradition test” to decide if it is constitutional to display something like a copy of the Ten Commandments. Rep. Brown said, “The Ten Commandments without a doubt will pass this longstanding history and tradition test.”

We believe our federal courts ultimately will agree and uphold Act 573 as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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