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The state's highest court ruled that a parent's challenge to a policy protecting student privacy was invalid.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld a school district policy protecting transgender students' right to privacy.
The policy from the Manchester school district mandates that staff refer to students by their requested names and pronouns, and that personal information about their identities may not be shared with their guardians without the student's permission, also known as forced outing.
A mother had previously filed a lawsuit against the district over the policy, claiming it infringed on her rights as a parent. The state's highest court ruled today that the mother's claim did not have merit, writing in its decision that the district's policy "places no limits on the plaintiff’s ability to parent her child as she sees fit."
"The Policy 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," the ruling states.
Local parent Heather Romeri and her son Nico, a high school student who is trans, wrote in support of the school's policy in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the ACLU of New Hampshire, which represented the district. Nico said at the time that "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."
“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," he said. "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.”
The court's decision was met with praise from the groups, with Henry Klementowicz, Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, saying in a statement "we are pleased with the court’s decision to affirm what we already know, that students deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and have a right to freely express who they are without the fear of being forcibly outed.”
“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," he said.
