Family Council Joins Amicus Brief Defending Parental Rights Before 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

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Last week, Family Council joined an amicus brief defending parental rights in a federal lawsuit currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The case is Mirabelli v. Bonta. Parents and teachers are challenging a school district policy that requires teachers to deceive parents about their child’s gender transition at school.

On September 2, Advancing American Freedom filed an amicus brief on behalf of Family Council and dozens of other pro-family organizations urging the 9th Circuit court to affirm parental rights and stop a California school district’s secret social gender transition policy.

The brief argues that “the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children is essential to liberty and is deeply rooted in American tradition and practice,” and that schools undermine parental rights when they deceive parents about a child’s gender dysphoria or social transition at school.

Unfortunately, the school policy in California is not an isolated incident. Pro-LGBT activists have used public schools to promote transgender ideology and gender confusion to kids in many different ways.

Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have spoken out about how schools are hiding important information about students from their parents. But policymakers, legal experts, and parents are pushing back.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Education announced it was investigating four school districts in Kansas for secret gender transitions after a complaint alleged that school officials let male students into females’ private spaces and sports at school and hid students’ sexual identity confusion from their parents.

Family Council joined dozens of other pro-family organizations from across the country last year in an amicus brief regarding a New York school district that treated a middle-school girl as if she were a boy without her mother’s knowledge or consent.

Arkansas has enacted good laws to help prevent schools from socially transitioning children or promoting radical pro-LGBT ideology in the classroom. These are good laws that protect children and affirm parental rights.

But federal court cases like the one in California could affect schools nationwide. That’s why it’s important for us to stand up for students and parents in this case.

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

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Doctors Allege Planned Parenthood May Be Committing Fraud to Cover Up Sex-Change Procedures

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Health experts are alleging that Planned Parenthood may be committing fraud to hide the reason it is giving cross-sex hormones to patients — including minors.

According to a report from the Washington Examiner, Planned Parenthood facilities in Pennsylvania have been using a billing code for “endocrine disorder, unspecified” when prescribing cross-sex hormones, rather than using the accurate billing code for gender identity disorder. Multiple physicians say this practice could amount to fraud.

Dr. Miriam Grossman testified before the Federal Trade Commission last year that the use of these alternative billing codes is intentional — done specifically to ensure payment for procedures that might otherwise be denied.

Besides being the nation’s leading abortionist, Planned Parenthood has also become a major provider of gender-transition drugs and procedures. As we have reported before, Planned Parenthood facilities in Arkansas both advertise so-called “gender-affirming care” on their websites.

Pro-lifers have also reported that Planned Parenthood is willing to prescribe cross-sex hormones to teenagers — sometimes at the very first appointment, without any mental health evaluation.

While Planned Parenthood continues to promote sex-change procedures, medical experts are sounding the alarm about how dangerous these procedures can be — especially for children.

Whistleblowers have come forward testifying about how they were rushed through gender transitions as children without understanding the procedures’ risks, consequences, or alternatives, and public health experts and policymakers in the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and other nations have found that science simply does not support “gender transitions” for kids.

In 2021, lawmakers in Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act. This good law generally prohibits doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

A federal court upheld the SAFE Act last year — meaning it is protecting children in Arkansas at this very moment.

Arkansas was the first state in America to enact a law like the SAFE Act, but since 2021 lawmakers in more than half the country have passed similar legislation. These measures are on the books, protecting children from the kinds of drugs and hormones Planned Parenthood sells. That’s something to celebrate.

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

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Biological Male Wins Girls Shot Put Championship in West Virginia

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A biological male recently won first place in the girls shot put at a West Virginia state track and field championship — beating the second-place finisher by more than two feet.

This same athlete — who has taken first place in past years — is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case that will determine whether states can protect fairness in women’s sports. The Court is expected to rule in the case this month.

We have written repeatedly about how women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

Letting men compete in women’s sports is unfair and reverses 50 years of advancements for women.

Female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, volleyball players, and others have seen their sports radically changed by men who claim to be women.

In some cases, letting biological males compete against women and girls can even be dangerous.

Stories like this one are part of the reason Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) in 2021 to protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas. The law prevents male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school.

Right now the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a federal lawsuit from West Virginia that could affect state laws like Arkansas’ Act 461.

Family Council joined dozens of state policy organizations and more than 200 state legislators in a legal brief in that case last September.

Most Americans believe that athletes should compete according to their biological sex — not their gender identity. We are optimistic the U.S. Supreme Court will agree and uphold fairness in women’s sports.

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

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