The mom of a middle school student in Maine is seeking the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court after learning the school’s social worker secretly met with her daughter to assist her in a gender transition without her parents’ consent or knowledge.
In December 2022, Amber Lavigne stumbled upon a chest binder—an undergarment used to flatten breasts so the wearer appears more masculine—while cleaning her 13-year-old daughter’s room. The mom was shocked to discover that her child received the binder from a social worker at Great Salt Bay Community School.
According to the Maine Wire, the social worker and other school staff reportedly began using an alternative name and pronoun for the child. He reportedly said he would keep all of it a secret from the child’s mom, and that the child didn’t have to tell her, either.
Lavigne confronted school officials about her discovery only to be told that the school counselor did nothing wrong and wrote in a statement that officials acted “to provide a safe, welcoming and inclusive educational environment for all students and staff” by following “specific policies and procedures” under state law that seek to ensure “equal access” to students’ education and privacy rights.
Last year, Lavigne, represented by the Goldwater Institute, appeared in federal court after suing Great Salt Bay Community School (GSBCS) for violating her constitutional rights as a parent.
“This situation is really about my parental rights being violated. It’s about a social worker who had never even had a conversation with me, encouraging my child to keep secrets from me and telling my child that he wasn’t going to tell me about it so my child could keep it from me too,” said Lavigne in a press statement.
“I have three kids who need an education, and I would love to be able to send them to a public school, but in the current environment I’m not comfortable with that,” she continued. “Our goal as parents is to raise amazing human beings who contribute to society, who care about other human beings, and to be left out of such a life-altering decision just doesn’t make sense.”
Last May, the district court ruled against her, finding that the mom failed to state a claim because the facts provided in this case were insufficient to establish municipal liability. The judge did not address the constitutional questions associated with Lavigne’s claims.
Lavigne appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, but they upheld the lower court’s decision.
The Goldwater Institute has filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari asking the high court to hear the case and rule directly on whether or not parents have “fundamental constitutional rights” which includes the right to notification when a public school “affirmatively recognize[s and facilitate[s] a child’s gender transition.”
“Not only does it not make sense, [but] by keeping this information from Amber, the Great Salt Bay Community School violated the U.S. Constitution,” Goldwater Institute attorney Adam Shelton said. “We are asking the Supreme Court to step in and make it clear that parents like Amber have a right to know when public school officials make important decisions affecting the mental health and physical well-being of their children.”
The Goldwater Institute noted that there are multiple similar cases pending before the Supreme Court, including a Massachusetts case where a public school went beyond a parent’s explicit wishes and recognized a child as transgender without telling the parents.
“This is a pressing issue that cries out for the Supreme Court’s involvement to ensure parents’ rights are protected,” Goldwater wrote in a statement. “The Supreme Court will hopefully protect parental rights by making it easier for people to hold their local public schools accountable and declaring that the Constitution’s protections include the right of parents to know what is happening in their child’s public school, including when a school takes steps (to) affirm their child’s transgender status.”
CBN News has reached out to the Great Salt Bay Community School for comment and has not received a response.
Last month, a federal court ruled in a similar case that California public schools can no longer deceive parents or force teachers to keep parents in the dark about their child’s gender confusion.
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