FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACLL FILES BRIEF OPPOSING PUBLIC SCHOOL’S EFFORT TO HIDE GENDER TRANSITIONS FROM PARENTS

May 31, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, AL – On May 30, 2023, the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty (“ACLL”), a conservative nonprofit firm in Birmingham, Alabama, filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit opposing a public school’s plan to help children transition genders and hide it from their parents.

This case, Littlejohn v. School Board of Leon County, arose from Florida public school district adopting a program that would encourage children with gender dysphoria to transition genders without their parents’ knowledge. This plan included instructions for faculty and staff to use children’s preferred pronouns around them but not to use them in front of their parents. Two parents sued the school district, arguing that the school’s actions violated their Fourteenth Amendment right to direct the upbringing of their children. The trial court dismissed their complaint, and the parents appealed.

Matt Clark, ACLL’s President, explained the impact this case would have on Alabama: “Because the Eleventh Circuit has jurisdiction over Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, whatever decision the court makes in this case will set a binding precedent for Alabama. The parents of Alabama do not want the government ramming LGBT ideology down their children’s throats. Hopefully, a win in this case will guarantee that the government may not undermine the rights of Alabama parents to direct the upbringing of their children.”

ACLL’s brief discussed the historical roots of parental rights and argued that the school’s actions were unconstitutional. Clark explained, “100 years ago, the United States Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment protected the common- law rights of parents from government intrusion. Those rights, broadly divided, were the rights to care for their children, protect their children, and educate their children. The common law presumed that parents delegated some of their educational authority to schools, but they still reserved the rights to care for and protect their children. Thus, if the school’s ideas of how to care for and protect the children conflicted with the parents’ wishes, then the parents win.”

ACLL is the litigation arm of the Alabama Policy Institute, a Birmingham 501(c)(3) dedicated to the defense of limited government, free markets, and strong families. For more information about ACLL, visit its website: www.alabamalawandliberty.org.

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