NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A family in Cherry Hill is suing the school district and state over a policy that keeps matters of student sexuality and gender identity a secret from parents.
Cherry Hill’s policy of not outing students who come out as gay, lesbian, or transgender to their parents is compliant with state guidelines, but it’s also a violation of the 14th Amendment because it deprives parents of essential healthcare decisions, says Attorney Thomas Stavola Jr., who is representing Rick Short, a father of three in the federal lawsuit.
“So it acts to conceal and secrets information from the parents and essentially facilitates a double life of secrecy whereby a student can change his gender identity and the parent may not learn of it for weeks, months, or even years into the future,” Stavola said.
“So his children may be changing their gender identity or may have already changed their gender identity,” he added. “That’s part of the irreparable harm here. He has no means of knowing that, absent a school notification.”
The family is suing to have that policy eliminated and Stavola says a ruling on the case could be precedent-setting.
Advocates for the policy say students don’t come out at home out of fear of what their parents may say or do.
The state has 21 days to respond to the federal suit. After that, a judge can decide to hear the case, toss it out, or the two sides can reach a settlement.
The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the case.