The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed a lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools to stop the enforcement of district guidance for trans-identified students that allegedly violates federal parental rights laws, according to a policy roundup published by the Manhattan Institute. The district's guidance reportedly directs staff to create "social transition" policies for trans-identified students without mandating parental consent or notification. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated that "for decades, schools operated with little accountability as federal parental rights laws like FERPA and PPRA went unenforced," but that era has ended.
Meanwhile, Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland has revised its policies on "social transition" for trans-identified students to make clear that no practice or guideline will obstruct parental rights guaranteed under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the report notes. The shift followed accusations from the Trump administration that the district wrongly classified information about a child's transgender status as confidential medical information parents couldn't access. Superintendent Dr. Mark Bedell explained in a letter that no policy may limit parental rights under FERPA, including any information in education records related to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns. In a separate development, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the legality of its policy barring trans-identified individuals from military service, with U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer arguing that a contrary ruling would represent an "unprecedented intervention into military affairs."
A coalition of 21 state attorneys general led by California AG Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit challenging a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services final rule that blocks federal Medicaid and CHIP reimbursement for medical transition procedures for minors, according to the roundup. The lawsuit claims the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, existing Medicaid provisions, and the Spending Clause, and that it's "arbitrary and capricious." In a related filing, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) argued in response to an FTC consumer fraud lawsuit that its widely adopted guidelines for pediatric medical transition are simply "opinions" in an area marked by "medical and scientific uncertainty," a significant retreat from WPATH's previous position that its guidelines represented the scientific and ethical gold standard for sex-distressed youth.
The legal and policy battles reflect deeper tensions over parental authority, medical standards, and the role of government in youth gender care. The report highlights that WPATH's guidelines were endorsed by major medical associations, insurers, and the Biden administration despite failing to meet criteria for clinical practice guidelines and a scandal involving suppressed evidence reviews. In the UK, the Welsh Gender Service paused "affirming" surgery appointments and referrals after data from 2025-2026 revealed markedly higher referral rates in Wales compared to England, prompting an independent review of referral and assessment protocols. The moves signal growing scrutiny of policies that kept parents in the dark about their children's gender-related decisions at school and expanded medical interventions for minors without robust evidence.