In a victory for trans students’ right to privacy and autonomy, the New Hampshire Supreme Court today affirmed a lower court’s ruling that upheld a school district’s policy respecting students’ personal pronouns and maintaining student privacy when appropriate.
The court concluded that the plaintiff, the mother of a student in the Manchester School District identified only as Jane Doe, “failed to demonstrate that the Policy infringes a fundamental parenting right.”
Related:
In their opinion, the court went much further, shutting down definitively the mother’s claim that the school’s policy respecting students’ privacy infringed on her ability to properly parent her child.
Stay connected to your community
Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.
“The Policy,” the court wrote, “does not prevent parents from observing their children’s behavior, moods, and activities; talking to their children; providing religious or other education to their children; choosing where their children live and go to school; obtaining medical care and counseling for their children; monitoring their children’s communications on social media; choosing with whom their children may socialize; and deciding what their children may do in their free time. In short, the Policy places no limits on the plaintiff’s ability to parent her child as she sees fit.”
School districts across the country have been battling far-right school board members and their allies in turning back privacy protections for LGBTQ+ students, and trans kids in particular.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the ACLU of New Hampshire represented New Hampshire parent Heather Romeri and her trans son Nico, a New Hampshire high school student, on a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case, Jane Doe v. Manchester School District.
“It was important for me to have the support of other people I could trust to help me feel ready to talk to my parents, especially people who could help make it easier for me to talk to my mom,” said Nico Romeri at the time the brief was filed.
Added Nico’s mother, “I’m so grateful that Nico has the support he needs in school. Of course I want my child to feel he can talk to me about anything, but above all I want him to feel safe and happy.”
Following today’s ruling, GLAD Senior Staff Attorney Chris Erchull said, “Schools must provide a welcoming and supportive environment for all students. Today’s decision upholds that core value and allows schools to manage the educational environment so that all students have an equal and safe opportunity to learn.”
Added Henry Klementowicz, Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, “Removing the Manchester School District’s existing, affirming policy would have created an environment where LGBTQ+ students don’t feel safe being who they are — and in school, they should feel safe, cared for, and able to learn to the best of their ability.”
Said trans high schooler Nico, “Transgender students want the same opportunity to learn and be ourselves, just like any kid, without having to worry that adults at school will violate our trust. If someone had decided to tell my mom what they thought about my gender, it would have made things so much harder for me at school and at home.”
