Donald Trump seemed to advocate for prohibiting schools from permitting students to socially transition, including changing their name, pronouns, or gender expression, without the consent of their parents, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, reported The New York Times.
Sage Blair’s legal case focuses on claims that school officials made decisions impacting her without informing or consulting her parents, including matters related to her safety and well-being at school. The Blair family asserts that, as a result of the school’s actions, Sage ran away, was subjected to sex trafficking, and experienced significant abuse and trauma, according to a Newsweek report.
Who are Sage Blair and Michelle Blair?
TL;DR: Sage Blair, a teenager from Virginia involved in a legal case concerning school authorities and parental rights, was one of Donald Trump’s guests for his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.
Sage Blair, a teenager from Virginia involved in a legal case concerning school authorities and parental rights, was one of Donald Trump’s guests for his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.
Michele, a resident of Virginia, filed a lawsuit against the Appomattox County School Board and several of its staff members. According to court documents, Blair is Sage’s paternal grandmother and adoptive mother, as per NYT.
She has frequently testified in favour of a Virginia bill known as “Sage’s Law,” which would require school officials to inform parents if a student identifies with a gender different from their biological sex. The bill has been introduced every year since 2023 but has not yet been enacted.
What happened?
TL;DR: The plaintiff’s attorneys allege that the school counselor accepted the statements of a 14-year-old student with significant mental health challenges at face value and failed to inform Sage’s mother, Mrs.
The filing states that the counselor “told S.B., a diminutive 14-year-old girl with mental health issues, that if she identified as a boy, she could use the male restroom at school", and that Sage indicated her parents were not supportive of her gender identity, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys, the Newsweek report noted.
The plaintiff’s attorneys allege that the school counselor accepted the statements of a 14-year-old student with significant mental health challenges at face value and failed to inform Sage’s mother, Mrs. Blair. They claim the counselor agreed to use Sage’s female name and pronouns when speaking with her mother, while using her male name and pronouns at school, effectively misleading Mrs. Blair about how Sage was being treated.
The legal team also contends that reports of bullying and sexual harassment by male classmates were not shared with Sage’s mother.
The brief mentions that Sage "had a psychotic breakdown and ran away" after her mother came to know she was using the boys' bathroom.
The attorneys also claim in court filings that “she was abducted and raped by an adult male stranger and subsequently taken across state lines to Washington DC and Maryland and raped and drugged repeatedly by multiple men”.
According to the plaintiff’s attorneys, after Sage was located, the school counselor testified in court, hitting out at Michelle Blair for allegedly failing to support her daughter’s “assertion of a male gender identity", even though Blair only learned of this claim hours before Sage ran away. The court filing notes that Sage was separated from her mother for several months.
In response, the school counselor’s attorneys argued that the plaintiffs did not cite any legal authority showing she had a constitutional obligation to inform Blair of Sage’s decision to identify as male.
The counselor's attorneys further argued that the complaint "does not factually link" the counselor's “alleged concealment of information from Blair and testimony in Maryland juvenile court with S.B. running away, being abducted, trafficked, drugged, and raped”.
They also contended that those alleged harms “were not, and could not have been caused” by Sage’s discussions with the counselor.
Trump on Sage Blair
TL;DR: According to Trump, Sage endured significant hardship after being placed in an all-boys state facility, but has since overcome those challenges.
According to Trump, Sage endured significant hardship after being placed in an all-boys state facility, but has since overcome those challenges. Today, Sage is described as a confident and accomplished young woman who has earned a full scholarship to Liberty University.
“And who can believe that we’re even speaking about things like this? 15 years ago, if somebody was up here and said that, they’d say, “what’s wrong with him?” But now we have to say it because it’s going on all over numerous states,” Trump said.
In his remarks, Trump criticised the practice of not informing parents and mentioned that no state should be allowed to separate children from their parents or change a child’s gender without parental consent. He emphasised that such actions must be prohibited immediately.
Curated by Ahmed Ibrahim
