In December, a group of 13 parents met quietly in a living room north of New York City. Most were self-described liberals, according to The New York Times, but all had something in common: Their kids’ public schools were hiding from them that their child was identifying as transgender. 

The problem wasn’t with the idea of transgenderism, the parents clarified, only that their schools would deliberately keep them in the dark. In one case, though parents “affirmed” a student’s new identity, the school hid it from them because the student said she didn’t feel “comfortable” at home. 

Indulging made-up claims such as “I am transgender …” ends with indulging others, such as “my parents are unsafe,” with no investigation required. Stonewalling parents from the lives of their children leaves already suffering kids without those who know and love them most. It leaves them in the hands of the state … in other words more vulnerable and less safe than they were before.