Parents sue over law allowing gender transitions in schools | Colorado-politics

A Brighton couple is suing the state of Colorado, claiming that a law addressing transgender identity violates the constitutional rights of parents and that their daughter, with the encouragement of a school district counselor, secretly transitioned to a boy.

The couple filed the lawsuit on Aug. 7 against the Department of Education and School District 27J in Brighton. The lawsuit seeks to challenge the constitutionality of House Bill 1039, claiming that it violates parental rights as outlined in the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Colorado law requires all public schools to use a child’s “preferred name,” subjecting schools to discrimination lawsuits before the state’s Civil Rights Commission if they refuse to use that preferred name.

It’s one of several measures in this year’s legislative session that delved into the transgender identity of school-aged children.

“When we went to the well demanding that HB23-1039 be stopped and they wouldn’t listen, we told Democrats there would be lawsuits and rightly so. Counselors, teachers and schools have no right to take on a parenting role that leads children down a path of no return,” Republican Rep. Brandi Bradley posted on X on Saturday.

“I hope more parents come forward and sue,” she added.

The lawsuit claims that states across the country are facing a mental health crisis among young people and that one vulnerable group includes students struggling with their gender identity.

“Unfortunately, the state of Colorado and public schools across the state have erected barriers between these children and their parents — the very people who love and support them — leading to further isolation and harm,” the lawsuit said. “And the government has violated the parents’ constitutional rights in the process.”

The couple, identified in the lawsuit as Jane and John Doe, said the Brighton school district encouraged their daughter, A.D., to transition from a girl to a boy.

The lawsuit says that when her daughter was a 14-year-old freshman attending Brighton High School, she asked a school counselor to help her transition to a male under the identity ZD.

“Following school policy, the counselor assisted AD with the transition,” the lawsuit states. “But neither the counselor nor anyone else at the school told the (parents). Instead, the school hid the Does’ transition, referring to AD as AD in conversations and communications with the Does while referring to AD as ‘ZD’ at school.”

The lawsuit alleged that the counselor took the process further by helping A.D. speak with a therapist through the state’s I Matter program, which provides free virtual therapy sessions for young people. To hide this, the lawsuit said the counselor arranged the therapy sessions on the counselor’s own computer so that A.D.’s parents would not find out that the gender transition process was taking place.

In the spring of AD’s freshman year, parents began to suspect that the school had secretly “socially transitioned” their daughter.

“But by this point, A.D.’s trust in her parents had been eroded by the school’s actions,” the lawsuit alleged. “The Does are loving and supportive parents, and they wanted their daughter to explore the root of her distress through therapy rather than viewing transition as a panacea that would solve all her problems. But because A.D. was convinced that transition was the only answer, her parents’ alternative approach seemed unsupportive. Although the Does informed the counselor that they did not want A.D. to be socially transitioned, the school nevertheless continued to treat A.D. as if she were a boy.”

The following year, according to the lawsuit, AD realized he did not want to have a “transgender identity.”

“She now believes that her previous identification as a boy was a subconscious attempt to mask her other mental health struggles,” the lawsuit said. “Recognizing that changing who she is was not the answer, A.D. is on the path to a happier, healthier life. But she is now faced with the daunting tasks of informing her school that she no longer identifies as a boy, detransitioning at school, and remaining resolute in detransitioning.”

The lawsuit added that while AD is on the road to recovery, “his gender journey is not complete” and that AD will likely experiment with a “transgender identity” again.

“AD’s school has harmed the Does’ relationship with her, and Defendants will continue to harm them unless the court prohibits them from socially transitioning the children at the school without parental consent or at least without advance notice,” the lawsuit added.

The lawsuit states that the Brighton couple are filing the lawsuit to “vindicate their rights to protect all Colorado children from the defendants’ dangerous actions.”