A Maine mother is taking legal action after her 13-year-old daughter was provided a chest binder and encouraged to gender transition at school—without her consent. The case, now before the First Circuit Court of Appeals, has raised serious concerns about how state laws may be weaponized to keep parents in the dark about their own children.
Amber Lavigne, the mother at the center of the case, discovered the chest binder in her daughter’s room in December 2022. Upon investigation, she learned that the Great Salt Bay Community School had been referring to her daughter by a new name and different pronouns, a gender transition facilitated by a school social worker without her knowledge.
Represented by the Goldwater Institute, Lavigne filed a federal lawsuit against the school board. The case has drawn national attention, especially after a Fox News op-ed by Goldwater attorney Adam Shelton pointed out that “it’s no surprise” the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration is investigating Maine’s Department of Education for possibly abusing privacy laws to “hide information about students’ mental health from their parents.”
Shelton claims the school exploited a state statute that allows social workers to form a “confidential relationship” with a child, thereby blocking parents from accessing critical counseling records. “Amber requested all the records from her daughter’s sessions with the school social worker. But Superintendent Lyndsey Johnston refused to hand them over, citing the Maine statute,” Shelton wrote.
Worse, Shelton noted that instead of owning up to its actions, “The Great Salt Bay Community School has not only refused to take responsibility for its actions, its leaders have criticized Amber for continuing to ask for information about her daughter.”
At the heart of the case is the violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)—a federal law guaranteeing parents access to their children’s educational records. Shelton argues that the Maine statute is being misused to override this federal protection, undermining transparency and parental authority.
Shelton concluded that the Department of Education’s investigation “highlights the need for state-based policies to promote parental rights and academic transparency in public education.”
Neither the Great Salt Bay Community School nor the Maine Department of Education responded to requests for comment, but the issue is clear: parents are being cut out of life-changing decisions involving their children—and that’s something no law should ever permit.
