(Daily360.com) – Two parents from Michigan are suing their child’s school district for secretly agreeing to change their daughter’s pronouns and gender identity. Jennifer and Dan Mead filed the suit on Monday, December 18th against the Rockford Public School District as well as their board of education on the grounds that they violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Meads allege that when the school began treating their minor daughter as a male they should have been notified and not doing so was in violation of the law.
The Meads daughter, 14, who is referred to in documents as G.M., had informed certain school personnel via email that she’d like to be referred to by male pronouns and a new male name beginning with the letter F. It seems the school honored this wish but when corresponding with G.M.’s parents they continued to refer to the child with female terms and her given name. They Mead’s say they found out about what was going on accidentally when the school’s neuropsychologist sent them a doctored report that included the masculine name.
The school district informed the Meads that it is district policy to conceal these matters from parents. The Meads were particularly caught off guard because their daughter has been attending school in the district since kindergarten and has been seeing a school counselor named Erin Cole since she was a sixth grader. Cole and Jennifer Mead had been in regular communication about G.M. and she was never informed about this transition protocol.
To further complicate matters the Meads say their daughter was diagnosed with a condition called autism spectrum disorder; meaning while she has no language or intellectual impairments, she does suffer from a general anxiety disorder and a depression disorder. The Mead’s informed Cole of the diagnosis assuming it would mean more help from the school but instead Cole aided G.M. with her desire to be addressed as a male.
The Meads removed their daughter from the school district late in October and have begun homeschooling her. They’re seeking compensatory damages, nominal damages, other related damages and attorney’s fees from the school district.
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