Posted on Friday, April 25, 2025

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by Shane Harris

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Oral arguments this week in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and a ruling earlier this month by Britain’s Supreme Court are the latest evidence that left-wing gender ideology is on its heels worldwide – but liberals in some states are nonetheless doubling down on it.

The British Supreme Court’s decision on April 16 sent shockwaves throughout the country and across the Atlantic, as judges ruled that males who claim transgender status and identify as women do not qualify as women under the country’s anti-discrimination law. “The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological women and biological sex,” said Lord Patrick Hodge, deputy president of the U.K. Supreme Court.

The court cautioned that the ruling only applied within the scope of the law presented in the case. But it was nonetheless a sweeping (and rare) victory for cultural conservatism in Britain and a stunning rebuke of gender ideology in a country where citizens have been prosecuted and even jailed for “hate speech” for posting criticism of transgenderism online.

Just a few days later, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that it is poised to deliver another blow to gender ideology during oral arguments for Mahmoud v. Taylor. That case centers on a policy in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the largest school district in Maryland, which requires students to learn a “gender and sexuality curriculum.”

The details of the case are indicative of just how quickly and completely gender ideology has infiltrated American public education. Much of the controversy surrounds children’s storybooks which feature transgender characters that teachers are required to read to students.

One of the stories, called “Born Ready,” shows a mother immediately “affirming” her daughter’s “new” identity as a boy. Another book, titled “What Are Your Words?” and intended for pre-K students, reads, “My pronouns are like the weather. They change depending on how I feel.” Another tasks three- and four-year-olds with searching for images from a word list that includes “intersex flag,” “drag queen,” and “underwear.”

MCPS teachers were also instructed to reprimand students for suggesting that people can’t change their gender. If a student suggests that it’s “weird” to say a boy can become a girl, for instance, teachers are told to explain how that comment is “hurtful.”

Initially, the curriculum was optional. But when an overwhelming number of parents said they wanted no part of it, MCPS reversed course. Not only would the curriculum be mandatory, but the district would also not tell parents when they would be teaching it.

Parents sued on religious grounds, arguing that the district had violated their First Amendment right to withhold their children from instruction that violated their beliefs. The case has now landed in the Supreme Court, and the justices appear disposed to side with the parents against the school district.

The Court won’t hand down its final ruling until later this year. But in the meantime, conservatives are having plenty of fun pointing out how thoroughly the lawyers for the school district embarrassed themselves. At one point, Justice Samuel Alito could barely contain his disgust, lambasting the district’s dismissive attitude toward parents who don’t want their child’s schools force-feeding them gender ideology.

But court cases aren’t the only sign that the cultural tides are shifting against gender ideology. 79 percent of Americans – including 67 percent of Democrats – oppose allowing men who claim transgender status to compete in women’s sports. That figure is up 12 percent from just last year. 68 percent of American adults also oppose the practice of prescribing puberty blockers to gender-confused minors, while 57 percent say a person’s gender is determined by sex at birth.

Even teachers union boss Randi Weingarten – who has defended Critical Race Theory as “accurate history” – went on Fox News to say that if she were still a teacher she wouldn’t read the books MCPS included in its curriculum.

Mounting evidence about the dangers of so-called “gender affirming care,” whistleblower reports, and the courageous work of conservative activists have all helped put proponents of gender ideology on the defensive. But while some Democrat lawmakers are reading the political tea leaves and distancing themselves from gender ideology, others are doubling down.

In Colorado, for instance, Democrats are on the verge of passing HB 25-1312, a bill that would effectively criminalize opposition to transgenderism. As AMAC Newsline reported earlier this week, that bill “would officially make misgendering (not using someone’s ‘preferred pronouns’) and deadnaming (referring to a transgender individual by their birth name instead of their chosen name) acts of discrimination under Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act.” It would further instruct courts to consider misgendering and deadnaming “acts of coercive control” in deciding child custody disputes.

Meanwhile, up in Maine, Democrats are attempting to amend the state constitution to mandate that school districts allow males to compete in women’s sports. That move has come in apparent response to the U.S. Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against the state for its ongoing defiance of President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order.

For conservatives, the tide may have turned in the battle against gender ideology, but Democrats have made clear that the fight is far from over. Victory will require not just legal wins or polling shifts, but continued courage from parents, whistleblowers, and citizens who refuse to be bullied into silence.

Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.