Unconstitutional Transgender Guidance in New Jersey
NJ Governor Phil Murphy has released an unconstitutional school guidance preventing teachers and administrators from sharing student-related gender information with parents.
Since the family is the fundamental unit of society, parents should decide how to best support their children. Healthy families rely upon open and transparent communication. Encouraging children to hide their gender-related thoughts and questions from their parents is a dangerous practice as it opens the road to dishonesty toward parental authority in a large sense.
“It is our position that keeping parents in the dark about important issues involving their children is counterintuitive and contrary to well-established U.S. Supreme Court case law that says that parents have a constitutional right to direct and control the upbringing of their children”
As Governor Murphy continues to support schools in restricting parental access to information on transgender issues, he is systematically preventing parents from making decisions about their children’s health. The guidance encourages the separation and disruption of the family in direct opposition to guidance from the Supreme Court and NJ Supreme Court. As shared by Tormey Law Firm LLC
“The United States Supreme Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court have held that parents have a fundamental constitutional right to raise their children. Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645 (1972).”
Cases at the Supreme Court have continually emphasized parental rights in regard to health issues:
“The Court emphasized that its ‘jurisprudence historically has reflected Western civilization concepts of the family as a unit with broad parental authority over minor children.’ The law’s concept of the family rests on a presumption that parents possess what a child lacks in maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment required for making difficult decisions. Thus, the Court concluded that parents can and must make judgments about children’s need for medical care and treatment.”
While the guidance is all about students’ well-being, nothing within the entire document alludes to support for those who feel uncomfortable with sharing a bathroom or other gendered spaces with a transgender person. No mention is made of emotional support or counseling for students who have struggled with opposite-gender violence. Students who have already suffered sexually-based violence are those who really suffer under these new rules.
“When it comes to facing these tough issues, it is better for local school boards, teachers, and parents to come together to find a solution that fits their community…but always with parents as part of that discussion. Democrats, however, are insisting that parents not be part of the discussion if kids express questions about being LGBTQ. These heavy-handed, one-sided mandates from Trenton are just wrong.”
Inclusive environments in NJ are often centered around members of the LGBT community but this mainstream understanding of inclusivity fails to recognize and include various religious and political viewpoints. The transgender issue is just one example of how NJ shows that inclusivity is about including some while excluding others.
-
The blogs published on this news site are created by contributors to the International Youth Coalition. The opinions, views, and statements expressed in these blogs belong solely to the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the affiliated organization.
