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How Trump Can Target Transgenderism in Schools
A federal court ruling in Pennsylvania vindicated the rights of parents.
By Max Eden, WSJ
Dec. 8, 2024 4:10 pm ET
Historic election defeats have many fathers—or, to use more inclusive language, many “nonbirthing parents.” This year one such father was the Democrats’ embrace of gender ideology in K-12 schools.
That means teaching children they can be born in the wrong bodies. Marketing puberty blockers to elementary-school students. Conducting secret “gender transitions.” By opposing all of this, Donald Trump proved he was for parents. He promised to get “transgender insanity the hell out of schools.” But can the president actually tell schools what they can and can’t teach?
Yes, President Trump can stop gender-ideology indoctrination. Tatel v. Mount Lebanon School District, a recent decision by a federal district court in Pennsylvania, should be required reading for members of his administration. A teacher taught her first-graders that boys can be girls, that parents merely “guess” their kids’ sex at birth, and that this “guess” can be wrong. This confused students and angered parents, who sued under the First and 14th amendments.
The judge held that forcing these concepts on children undermined the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. Many religions teach that God created us male and female. Promoting a scientifically baseless claim undermining that doctrine without parental consent infringes on religious liberty.
The judge also ruled that the teacher violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The parents, who weren’t notified about the lesson beforehand, had no option to spare their children from hearing it. Parents can decide that their kids won’t participate in spelling bees or animal dissections. Why couldn’t they protect them from the teacher spouting ideas about sex they find abhorrent? Parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children. The teacher promoted an ideology that could turn the children against their parents. The 14th Amendment doesn’t permit this.
Some courts may reject this view. In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s attorney general and education secretary could issue a letter explaining how enforcing gender ideology violates these constitutional rights. Most schools wouldn’t risk defying it. And if litigators disagree, the Supreme Court will likely vindicate Mr. Trump’s position that schools can’t teach children they can be born in the wrong bodies.
Mr. Eden is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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