Exactly a century ago this year, the Supreme Court, in its decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, recognized the right of parents to direct the education of their children, writing that “[t]he fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children . . . The child is not the mere creature of the state.” Today, just as they did a century ago, parents rely on the courts to serve as a backstop against abusive government policy.
Sadly, some courts in America are shutting the door of justice in the face of parents seeking to vindicate their rights and the rights of their children. In a case out of Wisconsin called Parents Protecting Our Children v. Eau Claire Area School District in the Seventh Circuit, the federal court of appeals with jurisdiction over cases arising in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, parents challenged the school district’s policy directing school officials to hide a child’s “social gender transition” from their parents. As the school told its employees, “parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities.That knowledge must be earned.”
Incredibly, the Seventh Circuit found that the parents’ harm in that case was merely speculative. Apparently, since plaintiffs must show harm to have standing to sue, parents must wait until they find out that their son’s school has been helping him dress as a girl and use the girls’ restroom for six months before they can challenge the policy.
The Supreme Court chose not to review the Seventh Circuit’s decision in that case. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a short dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, explaining that the parents’ harm is not speculative and that “some federal courts are succumbing to the temptation to use the doctrine of Article III standing as a way of avoiding some particularly contentious constitutional questions.”
Nor is this an isolated incident of judges dodging the controversy of gender ideology. The Fourth Circuit, the appeals court with jurisdiction over Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, came to the same conclusion in John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County Board of Education. A district court in Ohio did the same in Doe v. Pine-Richland School District.
Parents’ fundamental rights to direct the upbringing of their children, and the right of children to be free from ideological indoctrination by school officials, depends on courts that are willing to protect those rights. That is why Advancing American Freedom is filing an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to take up Blake Warner’s challenge to an Eleventh Circuit rule which effectively requires parents to hire a lawyer before they can represent their children’s interests in court. Specifically, while people can bring their own claims in court without a lawyer, and parents can sue on behalf of their children, the Eleventh and some other courts have found that parents cannot sue on behalf of their children without hiring a lawyer. While Mr. Warner’s claim is not related to gender ideology, his challenge to this rule is essential because his success would ensure that parents who are unable to afford an attorney can still seek judicial protection for the rights of their children.
On Jan. 29, President Trump issued an executive order that, among other things, ordered the removal of federal funding from schools that engage in “social transitions of a minor student” and directed the attorney general to work with state and local officials “to enforce the law and file appropriate actions” against school officials who “facilitate the social transition of a minor student.” Trump’s order is important but know that gender ideologues will undoubtedly stage massive resistance. Parents must remain vigilant, and courts must begin to take their claims seriously. The Supreme Court should entrench parents’ rights by taking Mr. Warner’s case and striking down the counsel mandate.
The National Education Association (NEA), a teachers’ union and the nation’s largest labor union, has continued its promotion of gender transitions for children.
NEA posted the guide by Advocates for Youth on Transgender Day of Remembrance last week. The guide was published last year.
The guide claims that humans are “assigned” their sex at birth based on reproductive traits (genitalia, chromosomes, and hormones), and that while everyone has a gender identity, only some align with their reproductive traits. The guide claims that children inherently know their gender identity as young as 18 months to three years.
Parents, per the guide, shouldn’t be the sole decision-makers about their children. Those parents that rely on information conflicting with or opposing transgender ideology are relying on “misinformation and falsehoods.” Instead, parents should accept information which affirms transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth (TNGE).
“Parents have everything they need to begin the journey of supporting their TNGE children,” said the guide. “When making decisions for their children, many parents search for information and resources to support their efforts, but some of what is readily available is misinformation and falsehoods. Parents who are interested in seeking out additional help to support their TNGE children are encouraged to do so.”
As for the role of educators, the guide says that they should “proactively teach the entire school community about gender identity, gender expansiveness, and celebrate LGBTQ history and culture.”
The guide also says that schools should affirm students in their gender identity by using their chosen name and preferred pronouns, regardless of their legal name; ensure students have unencumbered access to their preferred gender-specific facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms; and ensure students may participate in their preferred gender-specific extracurricular activities and athletics.
Per the guide, those who oppose transgender ideology, especially in children, qualify as “extremists” who put out disinformation.
The guide puts out a number of other contested claims, such as: puberty blockers are lifesaving, not harmful; LGBTQ ideologies contribute to healthy diversity; transgenderism isn’t a mental illness;
The NEA affiliate in Arizona — the Arizona Education Association (AEA) — has over 22,000 school employees as members (in addition to teachers, their members include librarians, custodians, cafeteria workers, and counselors).
Like the NEA, AEA has actively worked to foster transgenderism and advance other LGBTQ+ ideologies in minors.
AEA successfully advocated for the repeal of the 28-year-old “no promo homo” law prohibiting the discussion of homosexuality during HIV/AIDS instruction in schools. The law prohibited discussion that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle,” “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle,” and “suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”
School should be a place where everyone is able to be their full self. Thank you to everyone who joined the rally in Peoria tonight in solidarity with trans educators and community members! pic.twitter.com/xYqKKfZtQS
AEA also fought against legislative efforts to require the use of bathrooms based on biological sex, and prohibiting access based on gender identity.
Some great news today — #SCR1013, the bill attacking trans youth and educators, is DEAD! Shout-out to all the educators who contacted their legislators to stop this awful discriminatory legislation, and to everyone who shared their story so courageously! https://t.co/M8fH5qrvB5
The union also supported gender transitions for children as young as preschoolers, promoting a parent in 2017 who transitioned his four-year-old son into his “daughter.”
A Chandler High School alum and co-captain of Utah State University women’s volleyball team, Kaylie Ray, has reportedly joined a lawsuit with others players from the University of Wyoming, San Jose State University (SJSU), the University of Nevada, and Boise State University.
The group is suing the Mountain West Conference (MWC) and its commissioner, claiming that the conference compelled them to compete with a biological male ‘transgender’ athlete, “stealth-edited its rules to stifle their free speech,” and violated the federal Title IX law.
According to Cowboy State Daily, the lawsuit comes after a San Jose University student, Blaire Fleming, was added to the team as an outside hitter. Fleming, a biological male, is now ranked as the top hitter on the team.
The outlet reported that four schools, in addition to the University of Wyoming, have canceled matches against the SJSU team after outcry from players and university community members expressing concerns over fairness and safety of the female players.
In the text of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the conference drafted a new rule “hastily,” to mark the cancellations as forfeited losses.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote, “The burgeoning controversy, which Commissioner Nevarez apparently believed could lead women’s volleyball players and teams to exercise their constitutional rights to protest and boycott, caused the commissioner and her staff to hastily draft and post on the MWC website a policy designed to penalize First Amendment protests supporting the rights of women’s volleyball players in the MWC.”
They add, “This new MWC policy was clearly intended to chill and suppress the free speech rights of women athletes in the MWC.”
The players are represented by Attorney Bill Bock and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), who filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Colorado. Bock told reporters in a statement, “The NCAA, Mountain West Conference, university presidents and college athletic directors around the country are failing women. Because the administrators don’t have the courage to do their jobs, we must ask the federal courts to do their jobs for them.”
Teammates of the ‘transgender’ player are also claiming SJSU defrauded them because they joined the school and the team without prior knowledge that they would be playing with, boarding at times, and competing for scholarships against a biological male. The plaintiffs also argue that their rights under the First 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were violated, the right to bodily privacy, discrimination, retaliation, and viewpoint discrimination among others.
Fleming became the subject of national attention in October when he spiked the ball during a match, striking SDSU junior Keira Herron in the face with brutal force and knocking the player to the floor. “Keira Herron has some pink in her hair and her face is starting to look like she’s matching that as obviously she took the contact,” a broadcast announcer said in the now viral video.
In the complaint, a player named Brooke Slusser “estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball.” The complaint goes on to explain that, “The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
Male player from San Jose State @SanJoseStateVB, Blaire Fleming, leads his team to victory against Iowa @IowaVolleyball.
Look how high he jumps. Look at the speed of the ball.
Women’s sports activist and college swimmer Riley Gaines shared video of Fleming’s spike in a post to X, writing, “Male player from San Jose State @SanJoseStateVB, Blaire Fleming, leads his team to victory against Iowa @IowaVolleyball. Look how high he jumps. Look at the speed of the ball. Not only is this unfair, it’s dangerous.”
Positive education experiences from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s are dwindling away. Today, students are facing unprecedented onslaughts of inappropriate attention and criminal behaviors at the hands of district representatives and staff members. Public schools are no longer safe for children. These government indoctrination camps now exist to create and perpetuate cycles of crises while producing a victimized citizenry that’s controlled by fear.
Child abuse is increasing at alarming rates as a growing number of educators and administrators commit atrocious acts against their students. These incidents range from emotional to psychological to illicit sexual encounters. In some cases, predators are impregnated by their victims and vice versa. If that’s not enough, Biden’s new Title IX regulations effectively remove privacy and safety barriers between males and females on school campuses.
According to a report from The Federalist, one in 10 students are sexually abused by teachers. These findings agree with a 2017 case study from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service that revealed 10% of K-12 students will fall prey to sexual impropriety by a school employee. Furthermore, CBSNews quoted an estimate from the Department of Education (DOE) that said “12% of all public school students in the United States experience sexual misconduct by the time they graduate high school.”
The Federalist declared:
“Every day millions of parents put their children under the care of public school teachers, administrators, and support staff. Their trust, however, is frequently broken by predators…in what appears to be the largest ongoing sexual abuse scandal in our nation’s history. Given the roughly 50 million students in U.S. K-12 schools each year, the number of students who have been victims of sexual misconduct by school employees is probably in the millions each decade…For a variety of reasons…elected or appointed officials, along with unions or lobbying groups…have fought to keep the truth hidden from the public.”
For clarification: Out of 50 million children enrolled in public schools each year—between five and six million are sexually abused by a teacher or district staff member! Unfortunately, these statistics most likely represent a mere fraction of sex crimes that are never reported or investigated.
According to CBS, Redlands Unified School District (RUSD) paid out over $45 million to settle multiple cases of child sexual abuse dating back to the late 1990s. The report said the district repeatedly failed to take action against predators on their payroll, opting instead to relocate these criminals to different schools or nearby districts. The CBS documentary “Pledge of Silence” further exposed RUSD’s cover up of rape and sexual abuse that occurred between 1999 and 2022.
The DOE is still investigating hundreds of sex crimes and Title IX violations that allegedly occurred on school campuses across the nation.
District policies and school libraries are breeding grounds for sexual grooming and child abuse. Parents Defending Education compiled a list of U.S. school districts that actively implement “transgender support plans” and similar gender-based practices. These programs serve as de facto policies and guidelines that enable government employees to engage minors in intimate conversations without parental knowledge or consent. Many students also have access to pornographic reading materials during educational hours.
Mesa Public Schools (MPS) Board President Marcie Hutchison and Superintendent Andi Fourlis have overseen an unknown number of social gender transitions via the district’s secretive transgender support plan. The plan—which was implemented in 2015 and includes a student’s choice of bathrooms—resulted in a recently dismissed lawsuit. Furthermore, a general search of the MPS virtual library reveals numerous LGBT-themed texts including:
Under the leadership of Superintendent Scott Menzel and a radical majority governing board, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) supplies students with novels that depict young people as victims of rape, incest, sex trafficking, and graphic homosexual activities. The reality of these situations is irrelevant to the fact that parents/guardians have the authority to decide at what age or maturity level their children are introduced to these topics. The existence of such nasty books in K-12 schools draws attention to the motives of district officials who enable and entertain discussions about multiple sexuality disorders, sodomy, and prostitution among children.
The screenshot below features several titles with an “adult” interest level that appear available on SUSD’s virtual library page.
These examples don’t scratch the surface of what’s being forced on children through public education. We are witnessing a federally funded, trauma-infused, demoralization of the next generation. Not nearly enough parents are outraged by this tragedy. Not nearly enough students have been pulled from government indoctrination camps, though some promising trends are starting to emerge.
According to the Heritage Foundation’s “State Report Card,” Arizona ranks #1 for education choice and #2 overall in education freedom. The Washington Post said, “ESAs provide an average of $7,143 for parents of children leaving traditional public schools…Arizona spends about $13,500 per public school student; if everyone opted for ESAs, the state would save money.”
As leftist politicians work hard to demonize and destroy parents’ choice, it’s not recommended that families solely rely on ESAs. There may be more suitable and secure funding alternatives that can withstand volatile election cycles. Any amount of time spent researching this topic will be worthwhile. Still, as the door of opportunity stands wide open, we should do everything we can to intervene in the lives of our youngest, most vulnerable, and innocent members of society.
Parents: it’s not only your right, but also your responsibility to proactively defend your kids against the evil that’s manifesting in our education system. Use your authority to seize control of your child’s mental and physical health by removing them from dangerous, predator-infested public schools. You won’t regret the sacrifices you make to spare your sons and daughters from becoming the prey of wolves in teachers’ clothes.
Tiffany is the Founder of Restore Parental Rights in Education, a grassroots advocate for families, educators, and school board members. For nearly two decades, Tiffany’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed most interests as she continues to contribute to her blogBigviewsmallwindow.com. She encourages everyday citizens to take an active role in defending and preserving American values for future generations.
Reporting from The Post Millennial’s Senior Editor Andy Ngô revealed this month that on July 4th, a “pro-Palestinian” protester shot and killed Paul Franco, 51, after a fight broke out between him, his girlfriend Stephanie Renteria, and protesters in Phoenix, AZ.
According to Ngô, Renteria said Franco was killed defending her. “I just remember a black shadow just walking up to Paul and then shooting him,” she said.
Phoenix police reportedly served a search warrant on the home of a person of interest in the murder, widely reported as woman. However, Ngô reported Wednesday, “the person being investigated for allegedly shooting dead the 51-year-old Latino father is Muslim trans Antifa member Sumayyah Dawud, a man previously known as Britney Erica Austin and originally, Eric Austin.”
Ngo exclusive: On July 4, a group of pro-Palestine protesters got into a fight with Paul Franco and his girlfriend in Phoenix, Ariz.
His girlfriend says her boyfriend was shot dead while trying to protect her. "I just remember a black shadow just walking up to Paul and then… pic.twitter.com/3bRXtKVo3M
Ngô added that Muslim groups who had previously defended Austin cut him off after discovering his identity as a ‘transgender’ man.
In a report posted to X, Ngô went on to reveal that Austin has historically been involved with BLM-Antifa extremism dating back to the widespread 2020 riots adding that he is a “a fundamentalist Muslim sympathetic to radical Islam,” and has sued the Phoenix Police Department in the past for removing his Muslim facial covering during an arrest. Austin has reportedly claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Franco. Shared video footage from 12News and footage from a June 15th action that found Austin, now known as Sumayyah Dawud taking part of a mob action against a Scottsdale restaurant.
A source sent me video of violent trans Antifa member Sumayyah Dawud, a man previously known as Britney Erica Austin and originally, Eric Austin, being part of a pro-Palestine mob that harassed a restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz. for having Israeli products.
Resist the Mainstream posted that “Sumayyah Dawud, a man previously known as Britney Erica Austin and originally, Eric Austin, has a long history of far-left extremism and is sympathetic to radical Islam, according to Ngo,” and posted social media comments of “Dawud” extolling the virtues of armed extremism saying, “radical folx (sic) who get in the streets & engage in high risk direct actions and /or do direct confrontation against fascists/white supremacists need to be armed.”
.@MrAndyNgo reports: Phoenix PD is investigating a Muslim trans-identifying Antifa member who allegedly shot a 51-year-old father dead.
Sumayyah Dawud, a man previously known as Britney Erica Austin and originally, Eric Austin, has a long history of far-left extremism and is… pic.twitter.com/7w1sA7b34Q
— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) July 18, 2024
Per AZFamily, Franco and Renteria were walking home from the Fabulous Phoenix Fourth event at Steele Indian School Park and Renteria became embroiled in an argument with the protesters near Camelback Road and Central Avenue. The verbal dispute then devolved into a physical altercation. Within minutes, Paul Franco was shot several times in front of the apartment complex where he lived. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
AZFamily, citing Phoenix PD, reported “a woman they believed was involved in the shooting was taken in for questioning, then released without any charges being filed, claiming self-defense.”
As reported by ABC15, cell phone video obtained by the outlet shows Franco and Renteria shouting at the pro-Palestine protesters near Steele Indian School Park that evening. Both Franco’s family and Austin claim they were acting in self-defense. Another man, one of the protestors was reportedly stabbed.
In an interview with 12News, Renteria explained that after Phoenix Police broke up the initial argument with the protesters, she and Franco returned to their apartment. The protesters followed them. She told the reporters, “We threw eggs, and they threw rocks at us. And after they threw rocks, some of them jumped the wall.” She said that several of them followed a car into the complex’s private property and that she was confronted and punched by an unidentified woman.
“I just remember a lady coming up to me, and she said, ‘You threw a f’ing egg at me,’ and then she hit me.”
According to Phoenix PD, Austin stated that he fired on Franco in self-defense. Renteria however adamantly told 12News that Franco did not fire first and was shot and killed defending her.
“It was them. It was them that fired first. I just remember a black shadow just walking up to Paul and then shooting him,” she said.
Renteria told 12News “People could just come into your property and claim self-defense. It’s scary.” She added, “I want the people that assaulted us to be charged. I want some type of justice.”
In a post to X, Ngô wrote, “The family of the Phoenix man shot dead by a trans Antifa member following a Palestine direct action believe the @PhoenixPolice are afraid of charging him.”
