A New Jersey school district is being sued over a policy allowing students to change their name and gender identity at school without notifying their parents.Under the School District of the Chathams' policy, students are able to change their name in official school records, use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, and the school guidance counselor decides "whether, and to what extent" parents are involved in the decision.The school's policy flies in the face of the Supreme Court's ruling in Mirabelli v.Bonta in March, which granted an injunction against California over state policies that keep students' gender identities confidential from parents while the issue works its way through the lower courts, according to Christopher Ferrara, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, who filed the lawsuit."Well, the court has made clear in the Mirabelli case, and the Third Circuit has a decision along the same lines, that parents have standing to challenge a policy like this, which would hide a gender transition from the parents, whether or not the child is actually transitioning," Ferrara told Fox News Digital.
"And the Supreme Court indicated that the reason parents have standing is that the parents are the objects of this policy."People supporting the right to opt their children out of classes containing LGBTQ-related content demonstrate outside the U.S.Supreme Court as the court hears oral arguments in the Mahmoud v.
Taylor case in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2025.Parents challenged a Maryland public school district after it ended opt-outs for classroom discussions involving LGBTQ-related books.
(Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images)"The policy provides that this information will be hidden from them, so they have the right to object to it, whether or not their particular child or children is at that moment being transitioned.And there's always a risk, of course, that the child under peer pressure, or the influence of teachers,...