As the school year winds down, members of Congress have delivered a graduation message of sorts to schools nationwide.

In the waning days of May, the House of Representatives passed a proposal that prohibits educators from keeping secrets from parents about their children. This message, in effect, reminds students that families matter and biology is a fact, not a choice.

Federal lawmakers approved the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, which states that, absent parental consent, K-12 teachers must use an elementary or middle school child’s name and the pronouns specified on the student’s school forms. The proposal also imposes welcome restrictions on attempts to allow boys access to girls’ private spaces.

The proposal includes some provisions from the Given Name Act, which has been adopted by legislators in nine states. Under the Given Name Act, educators must use the name and pronouns consistent with a child’s birth certificate unless school officials have permission from parents to do otherwise.

>>> Supreme Court Rules Against Schools Keeping Secrets From Parents

Legislative language such as this prevents school personnel from hiding from a child’s family the child’s confusion over his or her sex. School officials from California to New Jersey and in more than 1,000 school districts across the country are inserting a wedge between children and their families with policies that do not require the communication of this information.

If a child says they were born in the wrong body, this is a health issue—and parents must be part of any minor child’s health decisions.

Critics attempt to turn these matters of health and upbringing into a civil rights issue, protesting that parents may disagree with their child’s desire to live as the opposite sex. This is a category error. Subjective feelings about one’s gender do not constitute a “right,” nor does the state possess a “right” to displace fit parents as a child’s primary caregivers.

Indeed, the primacy of the parent-child relationship and of the right of parents to raise a child according to their beliefs is a legal concept cemented by a century of crucial U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Radical gender advocates claim that children will be more likely to attempt suicide if parents and teachers do not advance their wishes to live as a different gender. This claim is not supported by evidence, as conceded to the Supreme Court by Chase Strangio, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Heritage Foundation research found that, since 2010, suicide rates have been higher in states with so-called gender-affirming policies. Additional research finds that medical interventions that alter an individual’s hormones or otherwise manipulate bodily functions do not resolve mental health issues.

>>> States Rip Families Apart To Serve Transgender Ideology

Gender dysphoria, the medical term for confusion over a person’s sex, is often associated with depression, anxiety and other mental health diagnoses. In 2025, researchers writing in an Oxford University journal found that “gender-affirming surgery … is associated with increased risk of mental health issues.” Other research from 2020 found similar results.

Surveys find that Americans recognize the biological fact that there are only two sexes (that we need surveys on such a question is a sobering sign of the times) and oppose policies that allow boys to play on girls’ sports teams. Even the International Olympic Committee has recognized the dangers of allowing men to compete in women’s sports and has adopted policies accordingly.

The recently passed House proposal is a good step, but federal lawmakers should clarify that the provisions apply to everyone younger than 18, including high school students. The federal language should also state that no child can use any accommodations—bathrooms, locker rooms, hotel rooms on overnight field trips—with people of the opposite sex.

These provisions on sex-separated spaces should also apply to education contractors and school personnel. Parents and students can start the summer knowing that federal lawmakers are working to protect families. That is a great reminder at the end of a school year.