Earlier this week, the Waukesha County Circuit Court ruled that leaders of the Kettle Moraine School District, west of Milwaukee, violated a mother and father’s constitutional rights by affirming their daughter’s desire to identify as a male. The school had allegedly referred to the female student using male pronouns and a chosen masculine name—despite her parents’ request not to do so.

The court’s decision affirms that parents have a “fundamental liberty interest in the decisions regarding care, custody, and control of their children,” Judge Michael Maxwell wrote in a 19-page decision.

The parents were represented by Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). “This victory represents a major win for parental rights,” said WILL Deputy Counsel Luke Berg. “The decision should be a warning to the many districts across the country with similar policies to exclude parents from gender transitions at school.”

In 2020—when the young woman represented in the case began to question her gender identity—her parents sought professional mental health services for her. According to court documents, the parents initially listened to the therapist, who was affirming of the girl’s desire to identity as male. But after weighing it, they changed their minds and expressed their desire to school leaders that they only refer to their daughter by her legal name and her female pronouns.

The student later decided she no longer wished to transition and went back to her identity as a female.

Now, their daughter says that she is glad she never transitioned medically or socially. She also recently expressed that school leaders’ decision to refer to her as a boy was detrimental, rather than helpful.

Screenshot via Youtube.com