A Maine mom is begging the U.S. Supreme Court to smash through lower court roadblocks and affirm her parental rights after school officials allegedly played secret gender games with her 13-year-old daughter, slipping her a chest binder and swapping names and pronouns behind her back at Great Salt Bay Community School.
Amber Lavigne stumbled onto the deception in December 2022, unleashing a lawsuit in April 2023 that accused the school board of trampling her constitutional authority to guide her child’s upbringing—only for a federal judge to toss it in 2024, with the 1st Circuit Appeals Court rubber-stamping the dismissal in July 2025, claiming no solid proof of a sneaky district policy.
Now, backed by the Goldwater Institute, Lavigne’s December 22, 2025, petition demands SCOTUS clarify that parents aren’t sidelined spectators when educators meddle in kids’ mental health and identity. Lavigne’s attorneys rip the appeals ruling as a gutless dodge, insisting courts can’t bury parental claims with “probable alternative explanations” before digging for evidence, and they’re pushing for a landmark declaration that moms and dads have an ironclad right to notification when schools greenlight and hide gender transitions.
Goldwater’s Adam Shelton blasted the secrecy as a direct assault on family bonds, declaring, “We are asking the Supreme Court to step in and make it clear that parents like Amber have a right to know when public school officials make important decisions affecting the mental health and physical well-being of their children.”
Lavigne herself said, “This situation is really about my parental rights being violated. It’s about a social worker who had never even had a conversation with me, encouraging my child to keep secrets from me.” This high-stakes showdown joins a chorus of parental rebellions, with parallel petitions from Massachusetts and Florida spotlighting schools’ transgender overreach. As conservatives rally against the erosion of parental authority, Lavigne’s case could torch the veil of secrecy shielding leftist agendas in public schools, restoring power to those who know their kids best.