NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
In early March, the United States Supreme Court in Mirabelli v. Bonta dramatically changed the balance of power between the ideologically driven officials who run America’s public schools and the parents and students they are supposed to serve. The court was very clear – as was the case last year in Mahmoud v. Taylor – parents have a fundamental right to raise and educate their children. Time. Schools should not encourage a student’s “gender transition” without parental notification and consent.
Just days after Mirabelli, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously held in Anderson v. Crouch that West Virginia’s decision to exclude sex-reassignment surgery from Medicaid coverage did not violate the Equal Amendment Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Relying on the Supreme Court’s landmark 2025 decision in United States v. Skrmetti, the Fourth Circuit found that West Virginia’s Medicaid program did not discriminate on the basis of sex but was a medically based policy that applied equally to both sexes seeking specific treatment for gender dysphoria.
The court went on to say that Medicaid does not discriminate on the basis of a person’s transgender status: a person – even one who claims to be transgender – can still get a hysterectomy to treat uterine cancer, but not for the same procedure to treat gender dysphoria.
The decision in Anderson is a landmark. Unlike Skrmetti, who was limited to treating gender dysphoria in children, Anderson works with adults as well. This decision is also indicative of the inevitable collapse of a destructive, ideological regime in public education that forces women to share bathrooms, locker rooms and sports competitions with men.
PARENTS, NOT MONEY, RAISE AMERICA’S CHILDREN AND THE SUPREME COURT AGREES
Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments on state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school track teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
After all, policies mandating that sports facilities be segregated on the basis of natural sex apply equally to both sexes — a point the Fourth Circuit upheld in support of West Virginia’s Medicaid rollout.
These policies do not discriminate against transgender people. No student, regardless of motivation, should use a locker room, bathroom, or play on a heterosexual sports team. A boy who wants to use a girls’ bathroom because he’s afraid of being bullied is subject to the same rules as a boy who wants to use a girls’ bathroom because he believes he’s a girl.
To be sure, common sense policies dictate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and men’s and women’s sports teams, as West Virginia’s Medicaid restriction in Anderson is based on a rational medical policy that claims an evidence-based legitimate interest in controlling Medicaid costs and ensuring medical need is not driven by gender discrimination.
WATCHDOG DEMANDS PROOF OF NO ‘DAMAGE’ IN SUIT AGAINST TRUMP TO BLOCK CHILDREN’S TRANS PROGRAM
Also telling is the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals less than one year ago in Roe v. Critchfield. That appeals court, which was hardly the basis for legal preservation, – concluded that Idaho’s law requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their natural gender did not violate the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
These important decisions were not issued without a moment’s notice. Before the end of June, the Supreme Court will issue its decision in West Virginia v. BPJ, unequivocally presented the question of whether the state violated the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX by segregating sports teams on the basis of sex.
The smart money says that the court will answer in the wrong way and may indicate, directly or indirectly, that bathrooms and changing rooms can also be classified in that way. Such a decision would be very welcome, as it would give states the power to pass legislation protecting women’s sports and private facilities without the constant threat of lawsuits from the ACLU and private organizations.
SCHOOL BOARD IS INTERVIEWING BOYS ALLEGED FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT OVER TRANSGENDER STUDENT EXCLUSION
Still, the Supreme Court’s favorable decision, while a major blow to the transgender agenda in public schools, may not end the battle for common sense. Instead, blue-chip districts will continue to put policies in place that outline student privacy and safety, even if they can no longer truthfully say that federal law requires them to do so.
Indeed, parents and students will continue to see situations like the one in New Richmond, Wisconsin, where school administrators tell girls that if they don’t feel comfortable sharing a bathroom or laundry room with a member of the opposite sex, the girls should be the ones to find another private option.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE FOX NEWS
These policies do not discriminate against transgender people. No student, regardless of motivation, should use a locker room, bathroom, or play on a heterosexual sports team.
Fortunately, the Trump administration has taken steps to compel school districts across the country — including New Richmond and several districts in Northern Virginia — on grounds that their policies constitute gender discrimination under Title IX.
But state enforcement alone will not be enough to end the situation forever. Students and their families must keep up with the changing legal landscape and apply maximum pressure. Students and parents must remain vigilant, challenge school policies, and be willing to take school districts to court for violating the sex-based rights guaranteed to students by the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Parents have the precious right to parent their children, and children do not give up their rights when they enter the school doors. The time to win this battle is now, and the opportunity has never been greater.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM IAN PRIOR
