Michigan parents sue school district for gender swap on their autistic daughter

The parents of an autistic daughter are suing a Michigan school district for using male pronouns to address their child without consent.

On Monday, following the revelation that the Rockford Public School District had been using the pronouns "he/him" to refer to their eighth-grade daughter since last year, Dan and Jennifer Mead filed a lawsuit against the district.

As reported by NewsNation, the lawsuit claims that the school violated both the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the parents by using male pronouns and a masculine name for their child.

The Meads found out about the pronouns in October 2022 when a school psychologist included a masculine name for the child in a report. They have since removed their daughter from the Rockford Public School District.

The parents are being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
 

In a statement, the Alliance Defending Freedom said, according to the Daily Mail: "At first, the Meads thought this was a mistake — that another child's information had been included in their daughter's documents."

"When the Meads asked district employees to refrain from using the masculine name and male pronouns, the district refused to comply with their wishes," the lawsuit claims. "They weren't able to help her in a difficult time in her life."

"So it prevented them from helping her and that denied them their Constitutional rights. Schools shouldn't keep information like that from parents," the ADF said.

The Meads have decided to homeschool their daughter, which, according to the complaint, "has required Mr. Mead to remain out of the workforce, which has caused the Meads to lose his income."

Because of this, the family is also seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory damages, according to the Washington Times.

"These and other damages were caused by the District's actions treating G.M. as a boy named F.M. while concealing those actions from the Meads," the complaint reads.

Their daughter was only recently diagnosed with autism and had been meeting with a school counselor at East Rockford Middle School beginning in 2020.

"The Meads 'placed significant trust in the counselor" over the past two years "as well as other district employees" and had regular communication with them.

According to the complaint, the school refrained from disclosing information to the parents when the child requested that the counselor and other staff use masculine pronouns and names when addressing her.

Kate Anderson, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, claimed the child was "socially transitioned" by the school.

"Parents, not the government, have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children," said Anderson.

"Schools should never deliberately hide vital information from parents, yet that's exactly what the Rockford Public School District did," Anderson added, according to the Daily Mail.

Court documents state that the school district said they had been following its policy.

NewsNation was informed by Superintendent Steven Matthews that the legal documents had not been served upon the school district as of yet.

"As such we have not read through them completely, we respect the privacy of this family and as such have no comment at this time," Matthews told the network.

"Our staff continue to support all students and their families as we work together to help our students learn and grow," he said.