Group of Parents Asking Supreme Court to Take Case Regarding Eau Claire School District's Gender Support Policy

Friday, June 7th, 2024 -- 8:00 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) A group of parents protesting a gender support policy at Eau Claire schools is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule two lower courts who dismissed their lawsuit because their children weren’t impacted.

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, by a group calling itself Parents Protecting Our Children alleges an Eau Claire Area School District gender support plan violates their constitutional rights because it doesn’t require notifications if a student asks about changing their names and pronouns, using different bathrooms or playing on sports teams that match their gender identity.

In March, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sided with a lower federal court decision from the previous year, and dismissed the case. The order, written by Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker, stated that while it’s clear parents have genuine concerns, none of the parents, or their children, were affected by the policy.

Now, the group is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. A petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, or WILL, and America First Legal wants justices to determine whether parents have legal standing to challenge “an explicit policy to usurp parental decision making” and to “conceal this from parents.”

“This case, and the many like it, represent one of the most significant failures of the federal judicial system in our lifetime,” the petition states. “School districts across the country, by one count, over 1,000, covering nearly 11 million students, have adopted policies to facilitate minor students, often of any age, changing their gender identity at school (names, pronouns, and bathroom use) in secret from their parents.”

Luke Berg is a deputy counsel with WILL. He told WPR getting the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a petition like this is a “longshot” but there are more than 30 similar cases around the country.

“And so I hope what the court sees is that it needs to weigh in, because if it doesn’t, in the meantime, lots of young people and families are going to be hurt by these policies, while everybody tries to figure out how to challenge them, and it shouldn’t be that complicated standing law,” Berg said. Berg said “gender dysphoria can be a very serious mental health issue” and kids experiencing it “need professional help.”

“What they don’t need is a bunch of adults around them during the day, confirming and agreeing that they were born in the wrong body, they need professional help to process what they’re feeling, and why they feel the need to reject the body that they were born with,” Berg said.

Eau Claire Area School District Board of Education President Tim Nordin sees things differently. He told WPR the policy’s goal is to help marginalized students. Nordin was unaware of WILL’s petition to the nation’s highest court, but said he isn’t surprised.

“I don’t know what the Supreme Court will do,” Nordin said. “But I also feel like if they take it, they will also find that there’s no injury and no standing for suit. But this has been WILL’s plan all along. They want to get it in front of the Supreme Court, because they believe that the Supreme Court is extremely friendly to far right issues like this.”

Nordin said if the Supreme Court mandates them to change their gender support plan they will comply. “But we believe that we’re not only following the laws, but we’re doing so in a way that best serves the children in our community that need our support and help,” Nordin said.

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