AG Labrador Defends Parents’ Right to Raise Their Children

BOISE, ID - Attorney General Raúl Labrador is defending the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children, urging the Ninth Circuit to affirm a federal district court ruling against California policies that allow public schools to facilitate a child's gender identity and social transition and actively conceal it from their parents.

Idaho joined Florida and 15 other states in filing an amicus brief in Mirabelli v. Bonta, arguing that parental rights are among the oldest and most established fundamental rights recognized by American law. The brief asks the Ninth Circuit to recognize that those rights extend to parents' ability to make lawful decisions concerning their children's education, care, and well-being.

"Children suffering from gender dysphoria deserve understanding, compassion, and competent mental health support," said Attorney General Labrador. "The last thing they need is to have the state and schools drive a cruel wedge between a child and their parents at a time when that child needs the guidance of their parents the most."

The case involves California policies that allow public schools to withhold information about a student's gender expression from parents, protect school officials who refuse to disclose that information, and prohibit schools from requiring parental notification concerning a student's social transition.

The brief reads: "Whereas a "child may balk at hospitalization or complain about a parental refusal to provide cosmetic surgery," (Parham, 442 U.S.) a parent typically will know better and should have the "authority to decide what is best for the child." (Id. at 604.) That basic right is only more pressing when the ideology pushed by schools ignores basic reality about the two sexes and further confuses innocent and impressionable children."

The states also warn that California's approach is part of a growing national problem. The brief cites evidence that more than 1,200 school districts have adopted policies allowing schools to facilitate a child's social transition without parental knowledge, potentially affecting approximately 12.3 million public-school students.

Idaho and the other states urge the Ninth Circuit to affirm the district court and protect parental rights nationwide.