Florida has recently banned sex education before fourth grade, but Maryland is a different world: For years, the state school system has directed teachers not to inform parents about gender-transitioning students. The teachers are violating parental rights by indoctrinating children with liberal and woke ideas.

     Since 2015, Maryland State Department of Education guidelines have said public schools have no legal obligation to disclose a transgender or gender nonconforming student’s sexuality to parents. Those students have the right “to decide when, with whom, and how much private information” to share about changes in their gender identities.

     In Montgomery County, parents are awaiting a federal ruling on their 2020 lawsuit to overturn a school district policy that requires teachers to hide how gender-transitioning students identify at school by reverting to “birth” names and pronouns with “unsupportive” caregivers. “Based on remarkably little information, the schools are willing to hide from parents that their children are making life-altering decisions, cutting those children off from the care and counsel of those who know them best,” said lawyer Rick Claybrook, who is representing the parents. “This violates not just common sense, but the federal and state constitutions, federal and state laws and regulations, and medical standards of care for transgender minors.”

     Across the country, parents have increasingly challenged the sexual content of materials and policies in schools, prompting changes in government as well as education in red states. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, last month signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which critics have denounced as the “Don’t Say Gay” act.