Doctor fired for speaking out against child sex changes wins big settlement against University of Louisville
University of Louisville officials have agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to settle their case with Dr. Allan Josephson, the professor whom the university demoted, then canned for speaking out against child sex changes, after 15 years of distinguished service.
"I'm glad to finally receive vindication for voicing what I know is true," Josephson said in a statement Monday.
Gender ideology and the sex-change regime it gave rise to in the West have suffered a series of mortal blows in recent years.
The practice of so-called gender-affirming care has been outed as ruinous pseudo-science; practitioners have been damned by their own words as freewheeling mutilators; and LGBT activists' narrative in support of sex changes has collapsed in the face of mounting contradictory evidence. Meanwhile, across the country and beyond, lawmakers have passed legislation and policy affirming the meaningful and immutable distinction between men and women, preventing the invasion by men of women's spaces, and protecting children from sex-change procedures.
While popular opinion is now unmistakably against gender ideology and the corresponding medicalization of children, those who stood their ground against the sex-change regime in recent years often did so at great reputational and professional risk. Dr. Allan Josephson found this out the hard way.
'Runs counter to the messages of inclusion and welcome that we have been sending.'
Josephson, a psychiatrist, joined the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 2003, where he led the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology without incident until Josephson spoke on a Heritage Foundation panel in October 2017 titled "Gender Dysphoria in Children: Understanding the Science and the Medicine."
Josephson — who previously expressed concerns over the medical procedures to which children experiencing so-called gender dysphoria were being subjected — explained:
Gender dysphoria is a socio-cultural, psychological phenomenon that cannot be fully addressed with drugs and surgery. Thus, doctors and others should explore what causes this confusion and help the child learn how to meet this developmental challenge.
According to court documents, the psychiatrist's opinion apparently did not sit well with Brian Buford, the director of the university's LGBT executive center, who contacted the medical school's then-dean Toni Ganzel, suggesting that Josephson "might be violating the ethical standards for psychiatry" and drawing unwanted national attention for an opinion that "puts our reputation at risk and runs counter to the messages of inclusion and welcome that we have been sending."
Ganzel, in turn, noted that Josephson's remarks did not "reflect the culture" that the school was "trying so hard to promote," said court documents.
The concern-mongering over Josephson's perceived "highly conservative position" quickly snowballed. The doctor's colleagues began hectoring him about his remarks, and by the end of the November 2017, they were pressuring him to resign as division chief for daring to express an opinion out of line with the new orthodoxy.
Under mounting pressure, Josephson agreed to resign as division head effective early December 2017. This did not, however, satisfy the ideologues in his midst who were apparently keen on institutional uniformity of vision on this issue.
Court documents indicate that officials in the school's LGBT executive center as well as Josephson's division colleagues plotted to undermine him, partly by challenging his "inductive reasoning as unscientific and ask how much he's earned as an expert witness over the last two years on sexuality issues."
'Public universities have no business punishing professors simply because they hold different views.'
Josephson was told not to treat non-straight patients and apparently surveilled, with his conduct detailed on what one division official dubbed an "Allan tracking document." Those colleagues who took issue with his remarks also criticized Josephson's work performance and productivity.
By February 2019, it became clear that the school had decided not to renew the doctor's contract. Shortly thereafter, Josephson filed suit against several university officials, alleging First Amendment retaliation.
The university fought the case all the way up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which ruled in September that:
- Josephson's speech was constitutionally protected, as it addressed a matter of public concern;
- the university officials failed to demonstrate that Josephson's "remarks had a significant disruptive effect on the Medical School's operations"; and
- a reasonable jury could find that each of the defendants "retaliated against Josephson because he engaged in speech protected by the First Amendment."
Apparently aware they were fighting a losing battle, university officials apparently agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million in damages and attorney fee to settle the lawsuit.
"After several years, free speech and common sense have scored a major victory on college campuses," said Travis Barham, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, the group that represented Josephson.
"As early as 2014, Dr. Josephson saw the truth behind dangerous procedures that activists were pushing on children struggling with their sex," continued Barham. "He risked his livelihood and reputation to speak the truth boldly, and the university punished him for expressing his opinion — ultimately by dismissing him. But public universities have no business punishing professors simply because they hold different views."
"Hopefully, other public universities will learn from this that if they violate the First Amendment, they can be held accountable, and it can be very expensive," added Barham.
Josephson stated, "Children deserve better than life-altering procedures that mutilate their bodies and destroy their ability to lead fulfilling lives. In spite of the circumstances I suffered through with my university, I'm overwhelmed to see that my case helped lead the way for other medical practitioners to see the universal truth that altering biological sex is impossibly dangerous, while acceptance of one's sex leads to flourishing."
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Trump judge sides with North Dakota Catholics, blocks 'anti-religion' Biden regulations
A Trump judge sided Wednesday with Catholic organizations in North Dakota, shielding them from the enforcement of a Biden Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rule and guidance that required their complicity in employees' efforts to kill their unborn children as well as gender ideology.
The outcome was unsurprising given U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor's suggestions in September when granting a preliminary injunction to the Bismarck Diocese and the Catholic Benefits Association that "this case is not hard" and that the Biden EEOC's rule served as a "reminder of the danger of government action that is clearly anti-religion."
Background
The Biden EEOC went out of its way to issue regulations and enforcement guidelines that ran roughshod over Christian employers' constitutional freedoms.
One rule in particular, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, proved especially troubling for the Bismarck Diocese and the CBA, the latter of which serves over 9,000 employers nationwide, as it would have both required them to provide paid leave and other accommodations to employees seeking abortion and restricted their ability to criticize employees' decision to kill their children.
The EEOC also issued enforcement guidance under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which the plaintiffs' original complaint noted would effectively require Catholic employers to "use false pronouns, to avoid speaking the truth regarding human sexuality around certain employees, and to permit opposite-sex employees to intrude into private spaces reserved to those of the other sex."
The Bismarck Diocese and the CBA sued the EEOC and former EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows in July 2024, seeking an injunction against the rule and guidance.
'The goal may be to find new ways to infringe on religious believers' fundamental rights.'
The plaintiffs — well positioned at the outset legally to take on the Biden administration, as a federal court in Mississippi had already enjoined the EEOC rule at issue in another case — argued that the EEOC had run afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; violated their First Amendment freedoms of speech and association along with the Free Exercise Clause; and infringed upon church autonomy.
Judge Traynor evidently agreed.
Biden admin notches another loss
Traynor permanently blocked the EEOC this week from interpreting or enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and implementing regulations against the Diocese of Bismarck and the Catholic Benefits Association "in a manner that would require them to accommodate abortion or infertility treatments that are contrary to the Catholic faith, speak in favor of the same or refrain from speaking the same."
The Trump judge also blocked the EEOC and its agents from interpreting or enforcing Title VII in a manner that would require the Bismarck Diocese, the CBA, and future Catholic members to speak favorably about abortion or sex changes, require them to remain silent about their opposition to either, or require them to indulge transvestites' desire to use the pronouns or private spaces belonging to the opposite sex.
Traynor previously acknowledged that the suit fell "into a long line of cases that should be unnecessary in a country that was built on the concept of freedom of religion."
"One would think after all this litigation, the government would respect the boundaries of religious freedom," wrote Traynor. "Instead, it seems the goal may be to find new ways to infringe on religious believers' fundamental rights to the exercise of their religions."
The judge, a member of the Federalist Society, suggested that the "repeated illegal and unconstitutional administrative actions against one of the founding principles of our country, the free exercise of religion," possibly signal that it is indeed now "a post-Christian age."
'The Court has upheld our religious freedom rights.'
Attorney Martin Nussbaum told the Associated Press that his clients are "very thankful to the federal judiciary for vindicating religious freedom rights" in this case.
"One of the things that we've seen is an emerging practice on behalf of some of the federal administrations — we also see this in certain states — a desire not only to mandate immoral benefits but to impose speech codes that would be contrary to Catholic values," said Nussbaum. "But the speech codes go beyond pronouns to even speaking about what Catholic teaching is, and we're just grateful to this court for protecting the freedom of speech of Catholic organizations as well."
Bishop David Kagan of the Bismarck Diocese stated, "The Court has upheld our religious freedom rights, and that is all we ever wanted."
A Better Balance, a liberal activist group that previously opposed President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominees, condemned the ruling. Inimai Chettiar, the group's leftist president, suggested the case was "extremist" in nature and claimed the ruling was "part of a broad trend of attacks on women's rights and reproductive freedom."
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Top UK court deals devastating blow to cross-dressing activists
Britain's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the legal definition of "woman" excludes male transvestites.
Conservatives and feminists such as J.K. Rowling celebrated the court's affirmation of reality. Meanwhile, gender ideologues and LGBT activists who recently suffered other monumental defeats in the isles — namely Britain's ban of puberty blockers and the landmark Cass Review's confirmation that so-called gender science is bunk — melted down, characterizing the ruling as potentially harmful.
The court was tasked with sorting out the "correct interpretation" of the 2010 Equality Act, specifically the terms "woman" and "sex." The act provides protection against discrimination on the basis of various immutable characteristics.
The case found its way to the U.K.'s highest court on account of a legal dispute between the feminist organization For Women Scotland and the leftist Scottish government.
The feminist organization For Women Scotland kicked things off in 2018 by challenging Scottish legislation that would include male transvestites in quotas for women. The Scottish government maintained that men who secured gender recognition certificates identifying them as female were women where the law was concerned, reported the BBC. The case snowballed from there.
"This examination of the language of the EA 2010, its context and purpose, demonstrate that the words 'sex,' 'woman' and 'man' in sections 11 and 212(1) mean (and were always intended to mean) biological sex, biological woman and biological man," the court noted in its 88-page ruling.
'Women are women and men are men: you cannot change your biological sex.'
"Interpreting 'sex' as certificated sex would cut across the definitions of 'man' and 'woman' and thus the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way. It would create heterogeneous groupings," stated the court. "As a matter of ordinary language, the provisions relating to sex discrimination, and especially those relating to pregnancy and maternity, and to protection from risks specifically affecting women, can only be interpreted as referring to biological sex.
Just in case there was any remaining doubt, the court clarified that a female posing as a man and carrying a GRC is a woman where the law is concerned and a male posing as a woman and carrying a GRC is a man.
The court evidently did not buy the suggestion that admitting that men are not women under the law would cause disadvantage to transvestites, noting they were still protected from discrimination under the Equality Act.
Judge Patrick Hodge, deputy president of the U.K. Supreme Court, stated that the ruling should not be read as "a triumph for one or more groups in our society at the expense of another."
Contrary to Hodge's suggestion, the ruling amounted to a major victory for those Britons keen on keeping opportunistic men out of women's spaces. After all, the court ruled that male transvestites with GRCs can be excluded from single-sex spaces such as women's bathrooms, changing rooms, and hostels.
"If sex means biological sex, then provided it is proportionate, the female-only nature of the service would ... permit the exclusion of all males including males living in the female gender regardless of GRC status," said the court. "Moreover, women living in the male gender could also be excluded under paragraph 28 without this amounting to gender reassignment discrimination."
"Absolutely jubilant here, tears!" For Women Scotland tweeted upon learning of the ruling.
Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch noted, "Saying 'trans women are women' was never true in fact and now isn't true in law, either."
Badenoch characterized the ruling as a "victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious. Women are women and men are men: you cannot change your biological sex."
J.K. Rowling noted, "It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the UK."
The three women Rowling referred to are Trina Budge, Marion Calder, and Susan Smith, the directors of For Women Scotland.
The leftist Scottish government vowed to remain an inclusive country after its defeat Wednesday, reported the Telegraph.
A spokesman for the government said, "We want to reassure everyone that the Scottish government is fully committed to protecting everyone's rights, to ensure that Scotland remains an inclusive country."
"This judgment further reinforces that the Equality Act does not, and never has, allowed for the self-identification of sex under the Act," the Edinburgh-based policy analysis group Murray Blackburn MacKenzie noted in a statement.
"Nonetheless, policies based on self-identification remain in place across the U.K., in hospitals, police forces, schools, and prisons. The U.K. and devolved governments, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, need to take responsibility for their role in this, take urgent steps to clear up the confusion, and ensure the ruling has effect on the ground," added the policy group.
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Canadian transvestite cancels US music tour because of America's reality-affirming visa policy
Canadian singer Bells Larsen, a woman who pretends to be a man, announced Friday that she canceled all of the American shows on her spring tour, blaming the Trump administration's requirement that visa applicants state their actual sex on their applications.
The female singer, who planned to exclusively play in blue states, indicated that she received an email last week from the American Federation of Musicians "stating that I am no longer able to apply for a Visa because US Immigration now only recognizes identification that corresponds with one's assigned sex at birth."
Contrary to Larsen's suggestion, which was uncritically embraced by leftists online — including the United Musicians and Allied Workers union — the singer is entirely capable of applying for a visa. However, to do so successfully would require her acknowledgment that she is indeed a woman.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order rejecting gender ideology and instructing the government to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
The president directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to "implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder's sex."
'I truly don't know which phrasing holds more truth.'
Rubio gave guidance in February instructing all visa-issuing posts to ensure that the sex listed on an issued visa corresponds to the visa holder's immutable biological classification as either male or female.
The guidance noted that:
generally, the sex listed on the foreign passport should be considered as prima facie evidence of the applicant's sex as defined in the E.O. However, there may be instances when a consular officer becomes aware that the sex listed on the foreign passport may not be the applicant's sex as defined in the E.O. In such cases, the adjudicator should confirm the applicant's sex as defined in the E.O., indicate that sex on the visa, and add a case note documenting any discrepancy between the passport and the visa to prevent issues at the [point of entry].
Canadian passports are unreliable when it comes to evidencing an applicant's sex because Canadian passport holders can request a gender identifier for the opposite sex and even for "another gender" besides male or female.
The request form winks at this unreliability, notifying Canadians that the sex identifier on their travel document "may not be universally accepted for entry or exit by border authorities of another country."
Larsen apparently failed to read the fine print.
"To put it super plainly, because I'm trans (and have an M on my passport), I can't tour in the States," wrote the female singer. "I hesitate to include a 'right now' or an 'anymore' at the end of my previous sentence, because — in this sociopolitical climate — I truly don't know which phrasing holds more truth."
Larsen suggested that her announcement was somehow ironic because her new album is about her adoption of a male persona following elective mastectomies and testosterone therapy, adding, "This new policy has crushed my dreams."
'President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense.'
After doing her best to use the manufactured controversy to promote herself, Larsen implored her fellow Canadians to vote in the upcoming federal election in which conservative populist Pierre Poilievre seeks to unseat as prime minister the self-identified "European" World Economic Forum frequenter Mark Carney.
Earlier this month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it was updating its policy manual to clarify that it recognizes only two biological sexes, male and female.
"President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and that includes making sure that the policy of the U.S. government agrees with simple biological reality," Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Proper management of our immigration system is a matter of national security, not a place to promote and coddle an ideology that permanently harms children and robs real women of their dignity, safety, and well-being."
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Florida teacher will lose job after apparently indulging student's gender delusion behind parent's back
A Florida teacher will soon be out of a job after she allegedly used a student's "preferred" name without parental consent.
Melissa Calhoun is an English teacher at Satellite High School in Satellite Beach near Cape Canaveral along the Atlantic Coast. According to her LinkedIn page, she has worked with Brevard Public Schools for nearly 12 years, seven of which have been spent at Satellite High.
However, her contract has not been renewed for the 2025-2026 school year after she allegedly violated a state law passed in 2023 barring teachers from calling students by any other name except their legal name without parent permission. The district became aware of the situation after receiving a complaint from the student's parent.
'BPS supports parents’ rights to be the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives.'
News reports have fixated on the fact that the law technically forbids teachers to use common nicknames such as Jon instead of Jonathan without parental consent. However, Blaze News confirmed with a BPS representative that Calhoun was using a name that did not correspond with the student's biological sex.
Additionally, during an investigation into the name issue, Calhoun admitted she "knowingly did not comply with state statute," Brevard Public Schools spokesperson Janet Murnaghan said, according to Florida Today. The district then issued her a letter of reprimand before ultimately deciding against renewing her contract.
"The state will be reviewing her teaching certificate based on these actions," said a statement from Murnaghan. "Teachers, like all employees, are expected to follow the law."
Calhoun is believed to be the first Florida teacher to lose a job over the preferred-name law.
So far, radical advocacy groups in the area are rallying behind Calhoun. The ACLU of Florida claimed she was just "being respectful," while Quinn Diaz of Equality Florida said she was just creating a "positive" learning environment.
"This dedicated teacher is being fired for recognizing a student in the same manner that we acknowledge our family, friends, and peers who use a nickname, their middle name, or a shortened name," Diaz added.
However, if the statements from BPS are any indication, the decision to discontinue Calhoun's employment was about respecting the law passed by democratically elected officials as well as the rights of parents.
"BPS supports parents’ rights to be the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives, and Florida law affirms their right to be informed," Murnaghan said.
Neither Calhoun nor the Brevard Federation of Teachers union responded to a request for comment from Florida Today.
H/T: Libs of TikTok
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'Gender identity crap': Colorado Dems kill debate on bill threatening custody of reality-affirming parents
Democrats in the Colorado legislature invoked House Rule 16 on Sunday to avoid debate ahead of a vote on a controversial new bill that would effectively classify "misgendering" and "deadnaming" as child abuse. The bill is now headed to the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it is likely to pass.
Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell, among those "robbed" of the opportunity to speak on behalf of their constituents with regard to House Bill 1312, noted in a video shared to X, "I believe they did this to silence us because they know how much negative attention this has been getting nationwide."
'If your child is confused about their gender identity, and you don't affirm that confusion, that delusion, then you are guilty.'
When Caldwell raised the matter of whether non-LGBT parent groups were consulted during a committee meeting last week, Democratic state Rep. Yara Zokaie said, "A well-stakeholdered bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups," reported Fox News Digital.
"We don't ask someone passing civil rights legislation to go ask the KKK their opinion," the radical added, securing applause from her fellow travelers.
"House Bill 1312 says that if your child is confused about their gender identity, and you don't affirm that confusion, that delusion, then you are guilty of child abuse and you can lose custody of your children," said Caldwell.
Blaze News previously reported that the Democratic legislation would classify "deadnaming or misgendering" as a form of "coercive control" that courts must consider when making child custody decisions.
"Misgendering" means using an individual's reality-based pronouns — "he" and "him" in reference to a boy, "she" and "her" in reference to a girl. "Deadnaming" is the practice of calling transvestites by their original names — for example, Brian for Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone or Tim for U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.).
'Help good candidates unseat these radical people.'
Under the legislation that passed the Colorado House Sunday in a party-line vote, "deadnaming and misgendering" would be both defined as discriminatory acts in the "Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act" and prohibited in most private businesses. Under the bill, local schools would not only be required to honor students' "chosen names" for any reason but would also be prohibited from enforcing sex-based dress codes.
"I wanted to say it is not me, it is not my constituents, it is not the people from my side of the aisle who are pushing this gender identity crap on the kids of Colorado. They are," continued Caldwell. "What they want to do with this bill is say that if they confuse your children and you don't affirm that confusion, they will take your child from you."
Caldwell implored his fellow Coloradans to reach out to their state senators as well as to their radical governor, Jared Polis, to let their opposition to the legislation be known. He noted elsewhere that to prevent the furtherance of this sort of cultural imperialism and erosion of parental rights, it will be essential to "help good candidates unseat these radical people."
'A cure for "deadnaming" isn't an emergency justifying late-bill status.'
The editorial board of the Denver Gazette blasted the Democratic bill on Sunday, stating, "This late-night concoction turns hyper-sensitivity into a crime and meddles in matters best left to common courtesy, families, and local school boards."
"Colorado lawmakers and courts have better things to do than police pronouns and dress codes. Our state's cratored [sic] roads need their attention," continued the board. "Our soaring crime and housing shortage cry for solutions. A cure for 'deadnaming' isn't an emergency justifying late-bill status."
In addition to indicating that the Democratic legislation would likely force its transvestite dress code mandate on religious elementary schools, the editorial board noted that the bill's "26 pages of jargon don't distinguish intent. Anyone making an accidental slip would break the law."
"This isn't about safety or civil rights," continued the board. "This is the far-left majority — much of it handpicked and appointed by Colorado's Democratic machine — dictating how people talk and bring up children."
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Trump admin launches blue-state probes into hidden trans-ing of kids, threatens defunding schools that keep parents in dark
The Trump Department of Education may be headed for dismantlement but on its way out is set to make life difficult for those blue-state radicals trying to indoctrinate and transition children behind parents' backs.
In addition to putting schools nationwide on notice that they could lose federal funding for violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, the ED announced late last week that it is investigating the education departments in Maine and California over allegations school districts in those blue states keep parents in the dark regarding efforts to transition their children.
While ideologues in the public education system are apparently upset over the return of accountability and transparency — the executive director of the non-straight lobbying group GLSEN called the initiative an "intimidation tactic" — there should have been no doubt it was coming. After all, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 29 directing his education secretary to draft a plan for:
- protecting parental rights pursuant to FERPA and the PPRA;
- eliminating federal funds from being by schools and school employees to directly or indirectly interfere with parents' statutory right to administrative and educational information pertaining to their children;
- eliminating federal funds from being used "to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student, including through school staff or teachers or through deliberately concealing the minor's social transition from the minor's parents"; and
- ending the use of federal funds that "support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology."
Biden-era mutation of federal law
FERPA is a federal law recognizing parents' rights to access their kids' education records as well as to wield some control over the release of personally identifiable information.
PPRA is a federal law requiring that parents of unemancipated minor students provide consent before the administration or distribution of any survey, analysis, or evaluation that reveals information regarding the student or their family's political affiliations or beliefs; mental or psychological problems; sexual behavior or attitudes; unlawful behavior; religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs; or income.
'The Department will no longer passively accept school officials' hostility to parental involvement.'
Education Secretary Linda McMahon indicated in a letter to educators nationwide Friday that "over the last four years, instead of vigorously enforcing these laws, the Biden Administration neglected the flood of complaints it received."
McMahon noted that while the complaints piled up, certain states took "advantage of this dereliction of government responsibility and installed policies that specifically instruct teachers and administrators to conceal student’s critical information in student records from their parents."
In the interest of both rectifying radicals' inversion of the concept of privacy "to facilitate ideological indoctrination in a school environment without parental interference or even involvement" and of addressing parents' concerns, McMahon vowed a "revitalized effort" to make both the FERPA and PPRA "the source of proactive, effective checks on schools that try to keep parents in the dark."
"The Department will no longer passively accept school officials' hostility to parental involvement," said McMahon. "The Department stands with parents in exercising their rights to the full extent of the law."
Frank Miller, acting director of the ED's Student Privacy Policy Office, reminded chief state school officers and superintendents of their obligations under FERPA and PPRA in a corresponding letter, suggesting that certain state and local educational agencies are presently committing violations.
Blue-state violators
The ED announced Thursday that it was launching an investigation into the California Department of Education for alleged FERPA violations. On Friday, the ED revealed that it was similarly going after the state education department in Maine for potential violations.
California receives roughly $8 billion annually from the U.S. Education Department. Maine reportedly received $250 million from the ED this year.
Gavin Newsom, the Democratic California governor now masquerading as a moderate, ratified a gay assemblyman's bill last year prohibiting school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and state special schools from introducing or enforcing rules, regulations, or policies that require employees to disclose to parents "any information related to a pupil's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression."
'It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law.'
Blaze News previously reported that California law now effectively requires educators to keep parents in the dark about their child's sexual confusion and gender dysphoria unless the child consents to looping them in and shields public employees from consequence if they worked to conceal a child's confusion from his or her parents.
In Maine, a similarly ruinous game of secrecy is afoot.
A recent report in the Federalist cited by McMahon indicated that 57 Maine school districts had policies on the books that prevented parents from knowing when their children started identifying as members of the opposite sex.
"Teachers and school counselors should not be in the business of advising minors entrusted to their care on consequential decisions about their sexual identity and mental health. That responsibility and privilege lies with a parent or trusted loved one," McMahon said in a statement. "It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law."
'We're closer than ever to dismantling these policies permanently.'
Nicole Neily, the founder of the parental rights advocacy group Parents Defending Education, stated, "Under the previous Administration, we were fighting to protect our children from irreversible 'sex changes' — a path too often facilitated by school personnel who we entrusted with our children."
"We are proud to stand with President Trump and Secretary McMahon to hold school districts accountable and ensure no child is socially transitioned behind parent's [sic] backs by teachers or administrators," added Neily.
The ED noted that state laws do not override federal laws and that FERPA violations "can result in termination of an educational entity’s federal funding."
Blue-state educators are not only facing pressure from the ED on this issue.
While the Department of Agriculture has been hammering blue states for alleged failures to fall in line with Trump's directive to keep men out of women's sports, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins noted her department will also support the ED in its investigation of the California Department of Education for over potential FERPA violations.
Rollins told Newsom in a March 27 letter that her department is "undertaking a review of its research and other education-related funding in California for compliance with the Constitution, federal laws including Titles VI and IX, and the priorities of the Trump Administration."
Elana Ross, a spokeswoman for Newsom, told Politico that "parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student's education records as required by federal law," adding, "If the U.S. Department of Education still had staff, this would be a quick investigation — all they would need to do is read the law the Governor signed."
The Thomas More Society, which has been fighting California in court to prevent its practice of hiding critical information about students from parents, celebrated the Trump ED's decision to bring the fight to blue-state radicals.
"We hope that the combination of our class action lawsuit and the U.S. government's investigation will prove a powerful 'one-two punch' that will deliver a knockout blow to these policies in California, along with showing the path to defeat these policies across the entire country," Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president, said in a statement.
"We're closer than ever to dismantling these policies permanently, protecting truth-telling teachers, and restoring every California parent’s right to be involved in their child’s health and well-being," added Breen.
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Trump flushes woke programs at Smithsonian museums, orders return of leftist-targeted statues
The left's long march through the institutions was a resounding success. Numerous businesses, churches, libraries, law enforcement agencies, schools, and other organizations have for decades served as incubators for radical activists and amplifiers for pernicious ideologies.
Leftist marchers are, however, now being routed.
Conservatives and other normalcy advocates have in recent years undertaken a reconquest, enjoying success with certain academic institutions such as the New College of Florida as well as major businesses including Walmart, Harley-Davidson, and John Deere.
President Donald Trump — who has taken an axe to DEI, critical race theory, and gender ideology in the federal government and in federally funded organizations — continued his D.C.-focused purge of radicalism on Thursday, this time taking aim at the nation's premier museums.
Trump intends to rid the Smithsonian Institution, its 21 museums and 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo of radical leftist programs, policies, and installations.
In an executive order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," the president noted, "Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth."
'Museums in our Nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination.'
"This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light," continued Trump. "Under this historical revision, our Nation's unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed."
Trump slammed the Biden administration for advancing this "corrosive ideology" and cited the following as examples of the anti-American propaganda at issue.
- The Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibit "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture," which represents that "[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement."
- The National Museum of African American History and Culture's assertions that the nuclear family, rugged individualism, self-reliance, prioritization of work over play, emphasis on rational linear thinking, punctuality, decisiveness, and a future-oriented outlook are "aspects and assumptions of whiteness and white culture in the United States."
- The "forthcoming Smithsonian American Women's History Museum plans on celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women's sports."
The Smithsonian also enraged conservatives in recent years with the National Museum of American History's Hispanic exhibit portraying religion and history through a Marxist lens and the Smithsonian Institution's 2020 "Girlhood" exhibit featuring the racist founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, and a medical transvestite.
Trump directed Vice President JD Vance to work with senior staffers to "remove improper ideology" from the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.
Trump also tasked Vance and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to work with congressional lawmakers to ensure that Congress avoids bankrolling exhibits or programs at the Smithsonian Institution that "degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy."
Cognizant and critical of the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum's initiative to feature male cross-dressers in future exhibits, Trump also insisted that the museum does "not recognize men as women in any respect."
"Museums in our Nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history," said Trump's order.
In addition to flushing leftist radicalism out of the Smithsonian museums, Trump — whose administration has been reverting the names of federal lands and military bases to what they were before Joe Biden took office — set his sights on a restoration of that which the iconoclasts of yesteryear chose to eliminate from the public consciousness.
Radicals both inside and outside government committed to a campaign of destruction and deracination in the wake of George Floyd's death in 2020, digging up graves, toppling statues, renaming animals, melting down busts, and knocking out church windows.
Trump directed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to figure out whether public monuments, memorials, statues, or other properties within the Interior Department's jurisdiction were removed or changed during this radical campaign "to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology."
The president demanded further the reinstatement of pre-existing monuments that were removed.
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World Athletics federation announces mandatory gender testing for female athletes: 'Absolutely the way to go'
World Athletics announced it will begin mandatory gender testing for female athletes in order to protect the integrity of women's sports.
The organization formerly known as the International Association of Athletics Federations revealed at a press conference that after a comprehensive review, it was ready to move forward with gender tests in order to ensure female athletes at their events are indeed female.
World Athletics holds a plethora of annual events in track and field, covering sports like indoor/outdoor running, decathlons, and racewalking.
'The process is very straightforward.'
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said during the press conference that "over 70 individual groups" were involved in an "exhaustive review" that determined administering the tests was "absolutely the way to go."
"The process is very straightforward, frankly, very clear, and it's an important one," Coe explained to reporters.
The executive was directly asked if swab tests would be the testing method used to determine gender, which Coe confirmed, along with a "dry blood test."
The latter involves the simple analysis of a blood sample or "dried blood spot," which can be used as an alternative to a swab test to find endocrine, genetic, and/or epigenetic markers, according to Science Direct.
World Athletics announced genetic testing days after its Indoor Championships in Nanjing. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Coe revealed that the tests were not only not invasive but also "necessary."
"They will be done to absolutely international medical standards," he continued.
Coe remarked that the most difficult part of the endeavor will be to find an international provider that has the capacity to deliver large-scale tests, given that World Athletics holds events all over the world.
The governing body also said the testing would be a "once-in-the-career" type of test for a female athlete.
A reporter asked Coe if the parameters around differences of sexual development — which deals with the classification of gender — would be updated to reflect the new rules. Coe appeared to agree that the parameters should be changed.
"It's important to do it because it maintains everything that we've been talking about and particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of female, women's sport, but actually guaranteeing it," Coe replied. "And this, we feel, is a really important way of providing confidence, and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition."
When asked if he was prepared for any legal or media resistance, Coe said he indeed is ready to take on criticisms and that he would not have set down the path to "protect the female category in sport" almost a decade ago if he were not prepared.
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