Free Republic

A Maine family’s then-five-year-old son was vaccinated in November 2021 with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a public school without his parents’ consent. After the family filed suit, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that their state claims for damages were pre-empted by the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, holding that their parental rights to consent and their child’s right to bodily integrity were not violated. By Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court dated June 2, 2025, the Hogan family has requested that the U.S. Supreme Court review their case.Most Americans trust...

It’s been a while since Americans could actually sit back and enjoy June. Now, instead of bumping into rainbows in every aisle and choking on the colored logos of every conceivable brand, there’s some freedom from the suffocating fumes of Pride Month. In these last two years, the march to pull companies back to neutral has outperformed everyone’s expectations. But in this process of rolling back decades of corporate wokeism, one thing is clear: this isn’t over. No matter how much success conservatives have, not everyone will go quietly. When it comes to LGBT activism, some businesses are playing for...

A century has passed since the Supreme Court clearly declared kids are “not creatures of the state.” 100 years ago today, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided the case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, a landmark blow in favor of parental rights. The Court’s bold words deserve to be recalled today: “The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations” (268 US 535). Pierce arose because, amidst post-World War I anti-Catholic activism, Oregon...

Canada has expanded its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program to include children and teenagers. A Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying submitted a report to the House of Commons in February 2023 that recommended the government begin extending MAID services to “mature minors” WITHOUT parental authorization. Carney’s government is allegedly considering this blatant eugenics program that would allow the government to euthanize children. Common law dictates that a “mature minor” is a person under 18 years of age who is deemed competent to make informed decisions about their own healthcare. There is no set age for which...

Defending Education is taking parental rights to court, suing the state of Colorado over its outrageous and arguably unconstitutional new groomer law. You might remember the recently passed Colorado legislation to fund castration of “trans” kids with taxpayer dollars and in spite of parents' wishes, to mandate pro-trans policies in schools, to criminalize “deadnaming,” and to take supposed “misgendering” into account in custody cases. Defending Education, an organization that stands for parents and against woke indoctrination in schools, is suing the Democrat-run state over the extremely harmful legislation. Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm, and Dr....

We are both mothers whose daughters went through a phase in which they believed they were boys. We never affirmed that belief, although their schools and much of the broader culture did. Eventually, our daughters recognized their true identities and ceased identifying themselves as “transgender.” A bill under consideration in Colorado (where Ms. Lee lives) would define parents like us as child abusers. The measure would harm vulnerable children and violate the U.S. Constitution in multiple ways. Lawmakers including state Reps. Yara Zokaie and Javier Mabrey have likened parents like us to Klansmen, and their legislation is expected to pass...

A new law would turn Colorado into a transition and kidnapping mill for the whole country, as crazed parents could groom their child, take them to Colorado, and seize custody from their ex-spouse.What happens when your ex-wife wants to convince your 12-year-old daughter that she isn’t really a girl? In the state of Colorado, if you don’t “affirm” that made-up gender identity, the state will start to take your child away from you.That’s what is happening to father Robert Hernandez, whose ex-wife Abigail Sanderson has allegedly been working with a groomer school therapist to pursue the new “non-binary” gender status...

A Florida high school teacher has been fired for calling a student an alternative name without getting parental permission, making her the first educator to be fired under a state law passed last year. Melissa Calhoun, a teacher at Satellite High School in Brevard County, will not have her contract renewed next school year after using a preferred name without obtaining a parental consent form, Florida Today reported Thursday. “BPS supports parents’ rights to be the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives, and Florida law affirms their right to be informed,” Brevard County Public Schools spokesperson Janet Murnaghan told the...

A Colorado state lawmaker is likening parental rights groups opposed to a bill that, if passed and signed into law, could lead to removing children from their parents' custody if they oppose trans medicalization. The lawmaker said such parents were akin to the KKK. Colorado Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell shared audio from an April 1 Colorado House of Representatives Judiciary Committee meeting where lawmakers were debating House Bill 25-1312. The bill has wide-ranging implications and is designed to give wide deference to several aspects of LGBT ideology, specifically by directing courts to take a parent’s willingness to embrace their...

Two bills that would strengthen protections for transgender people and gender-affirming care won preliminary approval in the Colorado House on Friday. They come as transgender rights and protections are put on shaky ground at the federal level under the Trump administration, which has issued orders to recognize only two unchangeable genders, stop offering non-binary passport gender markers, and attempts to stop funding care for transgender minors.

Democrats in CO are now pushing bill HB25-1312 which would take “misgendering” & “deadnaming” into account during custody hearings. Colorado father gagged for refusing to let his 13-year old son be sterilized. For that, Colorado courts stripped him of his parental rights - banning him from even talking to his child about gender, medical treatment, or the court case. "I haven't slept well forever... I'm afraid for my child."

A state court in Maine has outrageously ruled that a mother cannot take her own daughter to church.

Score another win for parental rights and common sense. Three school districts in New Jersey were given the green light to drop a controversial transgender student policy after years of legal wrangling. On Monday, a state appellate court issued the ruling allowing Monmouth County districts Middletown, Manalapan-Englishtown and Marlboro to remove from their books the state’s guidelines on how parents are notified if their child decides to transition. The decision was welcomed by members of the Middletown school board. On Thursday night, they voted 7 to 1 to toss controversial policy 5756 in the dustbin — and simply deal with...

Nearly half a century after Anita Bryant made Miami the crucible in the fight for gay rights, she has died of cancer in Edmond, Oklahoma, at age 84. But her cause, once mocked as intolerant and self-righteous, has been revived by members of today’s conservative Christian movement who warn that homosexuality is a threat to children. Bryant and her Save Our Children coalition — later changed to Protect America’s Children — led a successful 1977 campaign to overturn a Dade County ordinance prohibiting discrimination against gays. It took the county 21 years to restore the law. Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article298335973.html#storylink=cpy

Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that sought to overturn a ban on gender affirming care for minors in Tennessee. Of course you can't always tell how things are going to turn out by listening to the arguments but you can sometimes get a hint of what each justice is thinking. So here are some of the highlights (or lowlights depending how you look at it).U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar Argues the Ban is Sex DiscriminationFirst up and setting the tone for the opponents of the ban was Prelogar.She argues that the law is a...

A California judge dealt a devastating blow to a Texas father in his years-long fight to stop his ex-wife from allowing their pre-teen son, who identifies as a girl named “Luna,” to receive gender-affirming care.

A father who has spent over half a decade and a nearly a million dollars to stop his young son from transitioning to a ‘girl’ against his (and allegedly his son’s) wishes has lost his most recent court case, resigning to the fact that his child will almost certainly be chemically castrated at the insistence of his ex-wife. He shared the sobering news on X: Four years ago, Jeff Younger was dealt a crippling blow by a Texas judge who ruled that his ex-wife, who has been actively trying to transition their child, was to be given sole medical, psychological,...

Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) pledged to launch a campaign to boost radical sex change procedures in his state in response to Donald Trump’s landslide election. Pritzker used Transgender Awareness Week — November 12 to 19 — as a platform to showboat over the issue, Fox News reported. “This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.”

In total, the Minnesota Parents Alliance says it helped 80 candidates win elections to local school boards this election cycle.. In just its third election cycle since its inception, the Minnesota Parents Alliance saw its endorsed candidates win a number of pivotal school board races across the state. The grassroots organization said its candidates helped clinch parent-aligned majorities in four major school districts this election: Lakeville, Prior Lake-Savage, Elk River and Forest Lake. In Lakeville School District #194, MPA-endorsed candidates Paul Carbone and Matt Swanson won two of the three seats up for grabs among a field of nine candidates....

Pro-life experts have sent out their final warnings to the 10 states that have abortion-related initiatives on the ballot. Family Research Council has put together a Life on the Ballot resource to help educate voters about what these measures entail in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota. “[W]hat’s so critical about these,” guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice stated, is that they “are constitutional referendums” that enshrine abortion as a fundamental right in these state’s constitutions. “[C]ertainly,” he added, “all Bible-believing Christ followers in those states [need] to go out and vote...