The teacher, Megan Williams, championed Transgender Awareness Day and read books about gender ideology to her students, which prompted parents to complain. She allowed parental withdrawal for other topics such as Hanukkah, but denied it in this case.

Following legal action, the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has now ruled that the Mt. Lebanon School District should have informed parents of the “noncurricular topic” and allowed them to remove their children in line with their religious and moral beliefs.

Parental authority

Williams told her pupils that “sometimes parents are wrong” and “make mistakes” about a child’s ‘gender identity’.

But the court stated: “The heart of parental authority on matters of the greatest importance within their own family is undermined when a teacher tells first-graders their parents may be wrong about whether the student is a boy or a girl.”

It continued: “In elementary school, it is constitutionally impermissible for a school to provide teachers with the unbridled discretion to determine to teach about a noncurricular topic — transgender identity — and not to provide notice and opt out rights based on parents’ moral and religious beliefs”.

Vincent Wagner, Senior Counsel at religious liberty group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) which supported the case, said: “We are grateful the district court protected the rights of parents to receive information and be able to make good decisions for their children.”

Language

In the US state of Massachusetts, the words “mother” and “father” are being dropped from the family law – in order to “be more inclusive to LGBTQ+ parents”.

The Massachusetts Parentage Act, coming into force next year, replaces references to biological sex with gender-neutral phrases such as “the person who gave birth” and “other parent”.

The legislation, which affects birth certificates, child custody, and surrogacy, was backed by abortion giant Planned Parenthood in addition to LGBT activist groups such as GLAAD.