A parental rights bill is under consideration in New Hampshire which would require school authorities to inform parents about their child’s social transition but only if the parent asks. Yesterday about 5,000 people on both sides showed up to debate the bill.

The bill, which cleared the Senate with a party-line vote in March and is now pending in the House, reaffirms the idea that parents have a right and responsibility “to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children.” And it lists many education-related rights that parents already have under existing laws, including the right to review instructional material and opt out of any lesson deemed objectionable.

But the crux of the controversy relates to the fact that SB 272 would require schools to answer “truthfully and completely” whenever parents ask about their child’s gender expression, including any nicknames, pronouns, or other “intervention” being used at school to affirm or accommodate the child’s gender identity. The measure would also require schools to disclose information about any extracurricular activities, clubs, or organizations with which the child is involved…

The bill’s lead sponsor, Senator Sharon Carson, said it’s wrong for schools to deceive parents, though this bill includes a layer of protection that allows schools to justify withholding information from parents in certain limited circumstances.

The limited circumstances involve teachers who are willing to explain in writing the factual basis for their belief that telling a specific parent about their child’s social transition would, in their estimation, result in neglect or abuse of the child. It seems like a pretty significant amount of power to hand to, say, a 7th grade math teacher who is neither a social workers nor a psychologist. That teacher would be put in a position to effectively deny parents the truth about their own 13-year-old children. But of course the view of proponents of the bill is that even that extraordinary power isn’t enough. What they want is for teachers to be able to lie to parents as a matter of course.

Rep. Loren Selig, a former middle and high school teacher, said she worked hard to help students privately navigate difficult situations and is grateful her own children have other adults they can trust.

“We’re just trying to give kids a safe space to be themselves,” said Selig, a Democrat from Durham. “For those parents whose children choose not to speak to them, perhaps the conversation they should be having is why their kids don’t feel safe to talk to them.”

In short, they want schools to be a safe space away from the prying eyes of parents. But of course students who cut themselves off from parents with the aid of teachers over gender identity aren’t necessarily safe because their situation isn’t static. They are effectively being emancipated and put on a moving walkway that leads directly to life-altering medical decisions which can’t be reversed, all without the input of parents.

Yesterday, two detransitioners who went down this path as teens testified in support of the bill. One of those was 27-yar-old Katie Lennon of Massachusetts.

“There are adults working with your children who know secrets about them, intimate secrets, about their sexual ethics and identity. And not only are they not telling you, they’re actively hiding it from you. They don’t want you to know as much about your own children as they do,” Lennon said.

“My scars will never heal, I will never have children, my face is permanently masculinized and I have to shave my beard every morning.”

Here’s a bit of Katie’s statement.

“I thought that in the end I could become a man but all I became was a mutilated and abused version of myself”

Detransitioner Katie Lennon who transitioned at 18, including hormones, a double mastectomy, and a full hysterectomy at 21 years old, testifies in Concord, NH in favor… pic.twitter.com/IwjW3ZpJOJ

— Chloe Cole ⭐️ (@ChoooCole) April 19, 2023

This is a debate about a specific bill and a specific issue but the implications are much broader. As Lennon said, “If the roles of mother and father don’t include authority over the emotional, social and physical future of their children the roles no longer mean anything.” That’s what the trans activists are demanding here. The right to let sympathetic adults act as substitute parents and even lie to parents whenever they think it’s a good idea. Where does this trail end? I’m not sure anyone really knows but I’m guessing there are going to be a lot of lawsuits filed by actual parents before this is over.