Parent Successfully Fights Transgender Education in Public School

Mt. Horeb, WI - Thanks to an alert parent who called Liberty Counsel, primary students at a Wisconsin elementary school will not be indoctrinated by the writings of a transgender activist today. The school cancelled the program after receiving a letter from Liberty Counsel but plans to revisit the matter.

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On Friday a parent called Liberty Counsel after she received notice that the school planned to read I am Jazz by LGBT activist Jessica Herthel in school today. "Jazz" Jennings (seen in this video discussing the book) is a gender-confused male, who has been permitted to undergo harmful gender reassignment drug therapy and hormone blockers, resulting in permanent physical changes to his body. "I am Jazz is not only misleading, it is wholly inappropriate and disturbing," said Richard Mast, Litigation Attorney with Liberty Counsel. "Transgender education substitutes the beliefs of the principal and school psychologist for those of parents. Bringing transgender activism into schools undermines the privacy rights of students, the free speech rights of teachers who cannot in good conscience address a child by the opposite sex pronoun, and the religious rights of families," Mast continued. No credible medical authority establishes the proposition that biological sex can be changed. Dr. Paul McHugh, former Chief Psychiatrist for Johns Hopkins Hospital, wrote in a June 12, 2014, Wall Street Journal op-ed, "Policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered" by refusing to treat transgender confusions "as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention." While students suffering from gender confusion should be treated with kindness and respect, schools should not, by their policies or practices, attempt to coerce other students and teachers into participating in what amounts to a harmful delusion. "The District is not free to override parental rights and religious beliefs by subjecting impressionable children to confusion about something as important as gender and sexuality. The reading of I am Jazz and following discussions about gender confusion and sexuality are the first step toward remaking the moral beliefs of District students, which the District may not do," Mast said in the letter to school board President Seidl.