In aligning itself with [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity] education, the state of Michigan is driving a wedge between the youth and their parents. Courtesy | Unsplash
The Justice Department is investigating three Michigan school districts for allegedly teaching Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity education without parental consent. This investigation is long overdue.
As the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on March 2 in Mirabelli v. Bonta, parental rights are constitutional rights. Michigan’s quiet approval of SOGI education undermines these rights and threatens the best interests of children. The Justice Department’s investigation into Detroit, Godfrey-Lee, and Lansing school districts is an important step towards addressing this threat.
Michigan has a commission dedicated to valorizing LGBTQ+ identities throughout society, including in education, created by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2023. While the state doesn’t explicitly mandate SOGI education in its health education guidelines, leaving the decision to individual school districts, the state’s LGBTQ+ Commission is closely affiliated with Chosen Family of Michigan and Equality Michigan. These organizations are openly critical of the Supreme Court’s Mahmoud v. Taylor decision, which supports parents’ right to opt their children out of SOGI education.
SOGI education standards, as defined by the national advocacy organization Gay Lesbian & Straight Educational Network and the Human Rights Campaign, say that LGBTQ+ identities and attractions must be affirmed and normalized in schools. According to these organizations, it is in young people’s best interest for schools to teach and affirm these identities and attractions regardless of parents’ wishes.
Based on a narrative that dangerously oversimplifies young people’s struggles with identity, these standards separate children from their parents, the primary protectors of their welfare. This needs to stop, and the Justice Department’s investigation is an important first step.
In Mirabelli v. Bonta, a case out of California considering whether a public school has the right to socially transition a child in accordance with SOGI education without parents’ knowledge, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that parents have the final say in how their child is treated in issues of gender identity.
Parents are the most important part of a child’s well-being. As numerous studies compiled by the Institute for Family Studies show, “children who have two parents who are committed to one another, a stable home life, more economic resources, and the advantage of being intended or welcomed by their parents are more likely to flourish.” SOGI education needlessly drives a wedge between parents and children.
According to Whitmer’s commission, those who identify as LGBTQ+ are a distinct, static community requiring civil rights protection.
Yet they are hardly a cohesive group. Neither are they static. According to Gallup, the percentage of the U.S. population identifying as LGBT rose from 3.5 to 9.3% between 2012 and 2024. In the last two years, that same population has dropped over 20%, according to researchers Eric Kaufman and Jean M. Twenge.
Young people who identify as transgender provide a vivid example of this instability.
Why youth identify as transgender is a complicated question often associated with struggles with anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia, according to the Cass review from Great Britain’s National Health Service. The review also found that transgender identity is possibly tied to the social influences of peers who play an important role in kids’ development.The American College of Pediatricians found that “80-95% of children with gender dysphoria accept their biological sex by late adolescence.”
The factors behind why young people identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual are equally complex as those behind the transgender movement. Parents, not school administrators or activists, know their children best and should have the final say in dealing with their struggles.
In aligning itself with SOGI education, the state of Michigan is driving a wedge between the youth and their parents. Michigan’s LGBTQ+ commission should recognize the complexity of young people’s identity struggles and affirm that parents have the final say in their children’s education.
Instead of fighting the Justice Department, the rights of parents, and the best interests of children, Michigan school boards should remove all traces of SOGI education from their health education curriculum, embracing a parents-first approach instead.
SCOTUS is looking out for families. Michigan should too.
Daniel Johnson is a sophomore studying philosophy and religion.
