A Wisconsin mum has welcomed a court ruling vindicating her right to protect her daughter from ‘socially transitioning’ in school.
Waukesha County Circuit Court ruled that Kettle Moraine School District had directly infringed Mrs Tammy Fournier’s right to “direct the care” of her child, after denying her request to use the girl’s birth name and female pronouns.
Speaking to the local press, Tammy explained how the situation came about, and paid tribute to the help of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and the Alliance Defending Freedom in the ensuing legal battle.
Suicide threat
Tammy told Wisconsin State Journal that her daughter, feeling that she “might have been born in the wrong body”, was “admitted into a mental health facility to get some help”.
She continued: “Though I felt this new issue likely stemmed from Autumn’s underlying mental health struggles, the treatment facility said no. Your daughter is a boy.
“And if you want to save her life, you’ll now refer to her by her preferred name and male pronouns. Or you can go against her wishes and, if she kills herself, that’s on you.”
Tammy was amazed that no discussion had taken place around Autumn’s mental health struggles, “yet they were quick to affirm her new identity and blindly push my vulnerable, adolescent daughter down a recklessly dangerous path”.
Parents overruled
When it was time for Autumn to go back to school, Tammy said, she approached staff “to tell them I wanted to choose the best approach for my daughter and her specific situation.
“I asked the school to use my daughter’s birth name and female pronouns, but the school refused. School officials said they are an advocate of the child, not the parent.
“They said they’ll welcome her back to school with whatever name and pronoun she chooses, regardless of what I believed was best for my 12-year-old.”
“Thankfully, I have the law on my side”, she added, as parents, not the Government, “get to make decisions about their child’s health care and wellbeing”.
No other parent should have to go through what my husband and I did.
Legal victory
Tammy and her husband pulled their daughter from school and sued Kettle Moraine School District “over its policy of changing students’ names and pronouns at school without parental consent and over their objection”.
On 3 October, the Circuit Court ruled that the social transition of a child is a “powerful psychotherapeutic intervention” and “undisputedly a medical and health care issue”.
It said: “As such, the school district went against the parents’ wishes on how to medically treat their child.
“This directly implicates an infringement against the parental autonomy right to direct the care for their child.”
Hopeful
Tammy says Autumn is “doing well. She’s now a teenager, so there are ups and downs. But overall she is healthy, mentally stable, accepting of herself and looking forward to her future. We’re closer now than ever before.”
And she concluded: “Yes, parents know their children best and know what’s best for them. No other parent should have to go through what my husband and I did.
“Schools must respect our concerns and wishes and enact policies that support parents’ rights and benefit every child.”
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