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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5116 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5116
To require elementary schools and secondary schools that receive
Federal funds to obtain parental consent before facilitating a child's
gender transition in any form, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 3, 2025
Mrs. Miller of Illinois (for herself, Mrs. Luna, Mrs. Biggs of South
Carolina, Mr. Self, Ms. Boebert, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Moore of Alabama,
Mrs. Harshbarger, Ms. Stefanik, and Ms. Mace) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require elementary schools and secondary schools that receive
Federal funds to obtain parental consent before facilitating a child's
gender transition in any form, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Empower Parents to Protect their
Kids Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) School districts across the country have violated
parental and familial rights by encouraging or instructing
staff to deceive or withhold information from parents if their
child expresses discomfort with their sex or is seeking to
socially or physically adopt an identity that is incongruent
with their sex. Without parental knowledge or consent, schools
are changing the names and pronouns of children in school,
provided or allowed students to bring clothes typically worn by
the opposite sex for students to change into once they arrive
at school, or even allowing children to change which sex-
segregated facilities they use, such as rest rooms, locker
rooms, and dormitories or other housing for overnight field
trips.
(2) This is often being done pursuant to a ``gender
transition plan'' that is nearly always kept secret from
parents. In fact, these school districts have kept a second set
of student records that are unknown to the parents. Powerful
teachers unions and activist organizations have pressured more
schools to adopt policies to enable and encourage children, of
any age, to adopt an ``identity'' that is incongruent with
their sex and be treated accordingly at school without parental
notice or consent.
(3) Contrary to the unfounded assertions of activists, the
social aspects of adopting an identity that is incongruent with
an individual's sex are not neutral or uncontroversial. This is
experimental and has immediate effects on a child's psychology
and dramatically increases the statistical likelihood that a
child will go on to take puberty blocking or suppressing drugs
and wrong-sex hormones. Additionally, it makes it more
difficult for a child to reverse course later on, thereby
increasing the likelihood that the child will continue on to
the surgical elements of adopting an identity that is
incongruent with one's sex, resulting in life-changing,
irreversible consequences.
(4) Any policies that attempt to circumvent parental
authority are a violation of parents' constitutionally
protected rights to direct the care, custody, and upbringing of
their children as recognized by the Supreme Court. Further,
policies that withhold information from parents or ask children
about intimate details of their family life violate Federal
statutes designed to uphold a parent's rights and duties in
education. School districts implementing such policies are
misrepresenting or entirely ignoring these statutes and
constitutional protections.
(5) On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed Executive
Order 14191 ``Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12
Schooling'', to enforce the law to ensure that recipients of
Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all laws
protecting parental rights.
(6) Schools should never be allowed to intrude on family
life by misleading or excluding parents and confusing children.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS OF PARENTAL CONSENT.
(a) In General.--No Federal funds shall be made available to any
elementary school or secondary school unless the elementary school or
secondary school, with respect to students enrolled at the school who
have not yet reached 18 years of age, complies with each of the
following requirements:
(1) School employees do not proceed with any accommodation
intended to affirm a student's purported ``identity'' that is
incongruent with the student's sex, or any action to facilitate
or otherwise aid and abet a minor in adopting such an identity,
including referral or recommendation to any third-party medical
provider for a gender transition procedure, unless the
employees have received express parental consent to do so.
(2) School employees do not facilitate, encourage, or
coerce students to withhold information from their parents
regarding the student's purported identity, when it is
incongruent with the student's sex.
(3) School employees do not withhold or hide information
from parents about a student's discomfort with their sex, their
desire for an identity that is incongruent with their sex,
their profession of an identity that is incongruent with their
sex, or their desire to undergo a gender transition procedure.
(4) School employees do not encourage, pressure, or coerce
the parents of students, or students themselves, to proceed
with any intervention to affirm the student's adoption of an
identity that is incongruent with their sex.
(b) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed--
(1) to prevent a school employee from contacting
appropriate legal authorities about an imminent threat to a
student's physical safety in the event that the school employee
knows or has a reasonable suspicion that the student is at risk
of physical abuse, as defined in section 1169 of title 18,
United States Code; or
(2) to deprive any parent of the right to be involved in a
child's actions or discussions about gender transition, without
the due process of law.
(c) Ensuring Compliance.--The head of each Federal agency shall
require each application for Federal assistance submitted by a State
educational agency or local educational agency to the head of such
Federal agency--
(1) to describe the steps that each elementary school and
secondary school served by the State educational agency or
local educational agency proposes to take to ensure compliance
with the requirements under this section and how these steps
preserve and protect the authority of the family; and
(2) to ensure that--
(A) a copy of the written policy that each
elementary school and secondary school served by the
State educational agency or local educational agency
has to ensure compliance with the requirements under
this section is provided to the head of such Federal
agency and to the families of enrolled students; and
(B) each such policy is clearly and publicly posted
on the website of the school.
(d) Civil Action for Certain Violations.--
(1) In general.--A qualified party may, in a civil action,
obtain appropriate relief with regard to a designated
violation.
(2) Administrative remedies not required.--An action under
this section may be commenced, and relief may be granted,
without regard to whether the party commencing the action has
sought or exhausted any available administrative remedy.
(3) Defendants in actions under this section may include
governmental entities as well as others.--An action under this
section may be brought against any elementary school or
secondary school receiving Federal financial assistance or any
governmental entity assisting an elementary school or secondary
school.
(4) Nature of relief.--In an action under this section, the
court shall grant--
(A) all appropriate relief, including injunctive
relief and declaratory relief;
(B) to a prevailing plaintiff, reasonable
attorneys' fees and litigation costs; and
(C) payment for treatments or therapy to repair
harm to the child from pursuit of ``gender transition''
determined as necessary by the parent and the child's
medical providers.
(5) Attorneys fees for defendant.--If a defendant in a
civil action under this subsection prevails and the court finds
that the plaintiff's suit was frivolous, the court shall award
a reasonable attorney's fee in favor of the defendant against
the plaintiff.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Female.--The term ``female'', when used to refer to a
natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had,
will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly,
historical accident, or intentional or unintentional
disruption, the reproductive system that at some point
produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization.
(2) Male.--The term ``male'', when used to refer to a
natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had,
will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly,
historical accident, or intentional or unintentional
disruption, the reproductive system that at some point
produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.
(3) Sex.--The term ``sex'', when referring to an
individual's sex, means to refer to either male or female, as
biologically determined.
(4) Designated violation.--The term ``designated
violation'' means an actual or threatened violation of this
section.
(5) ESEA.--The term ``elementary school'' and ``secondary
school'' have the meanings given the terms in section 8101 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7801).
(6) Gender transition.--The term ``gender transition''
means the process in which an individual goes from identifying
with or presenting as his or her sex to identifying with or
presenting a self-proclaimed identity that does not correspond
with or is different from his or her sex, and may be
accompanied with social, legal, or physical changes.
(7) Governmental entity.--The term ``governmental entity,''
means a school district, a local educational agency, a school
board, or any agency or other governmental unit or subdivision
of a State responsible for education, or of such a local
government.
(8) Qualified party.--The term ``qualified party'' means--
(A) the Attorney General of the United States; or
(B) any parent or legal guardian adversely affected
by the designated violation.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
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