Columbia, South Carolina – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined a multi-state effort urging federal officials to protect the role of parents in decisions involving their children’s health, safety and identity at school.
Wilson announced that he signed onto a letter with attorneys general from 19 other states and territories addressed to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education.
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The letter raises concerns about reported policies in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public School District, where schools have allegedly supported students through social gender transitions without notifying parents and have directed staff to keep that information from parents considered “insufficiently supportive.”
For Wilson, the issue centers on whether schools should make or conceal major decisions involving a child’s identity without the family’s knowledge.
“Parents are uniquely equipped to determine the best way to raise their children,” Attorney General Wilson stated.
“Issues involving a child’s identity impact their health, safety, and wellbeing, and parents should never be kept in the dark by the staff of the school their child attends.”
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The letter argues that parental involvement is especially important as more young people identify as transgender.
According to the states involved, the number of youth ages 13 to 17 identifying as transgender nearly doubled between 2017 and 2023. The attorneys general say that trend makes it even more important for families to be included in conversations that may affect a child’s long-term wellbeing.
The coalition also points to a recent peer-reviewed study that said “gender-affirming care” carries the “risk of significant harms, including infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease,” along with other possible negative effects. The attorneys general argue that such concerns should not be separated from parental guidance or hidden from families.
Wilson framed his participation as part of a broader effort to defend parents and children from policies he believes go too far inside schools.
“As both a parent and Attorney General, I will continue to protect our state’s children from the woke gender ideology that threatens their health and well-being,” Attorney General Wilson said.
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Joining Wilson in the letter are the attorneys general of West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and South Dakota.
The letter now places South Carolina among a wider group of states pressing the federal government to recognize parental rights as central when schools handle sensitive matters involving students.
You can read the brief here.
