I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3462 
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 
MAY 18, 2023 
Mr. BANKS
(for himself, Mrs. MILLER
of Illinois, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. 
GROTHMAN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. DUNCAN, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
the 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 Representa-
tives 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 of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) School districts across the country are vio-
lating parental and familial rights by encouraging or 
instructing staff to deceive or withhold information 
from parents if their child expresses confusion about 
their gender and is seeking to ‘‘transition’’. Without 
parental knowledge or consent, schools are facili-
tating ‘‘social gender transitions’’ by changing the 
names and pronouns of children in school, or even 
allowing children to change which sex-segregated fa-
cilities they use, such as rest rooms, locker rooms, 
and dormitories or other housing for overnight field 
trips. 
(2) Powerful teachers unions and activist orga-
nizations are pressuring more schools to adopt poli-
cies to enable and encourage children, of any age, to 
change their ‘‘gender identity’’ at school without pa-
rental notice or consent. 
(3) Contrary to the unfounded assertions of ac-
tivists, ‘‘socially transitioning’’ a child is not an evi-
dence-based practice and it is not a neutral or 
uncontroversial decision. This practice is an experi-
mental social and psychological intervention that has 
immediate effects on a child’s psychology and a high 
likelihood of changing the life path of a child. A ‘‘so-
cial gender transition’’ may make it more difficult 
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for a child to reverse course later on, thereby in-
creasing the likelihood that the child will continue on 
to a ‘‘medical transition’’, resulting in life-changing, 
irreversible consequences. 
(4) Any policies that attempt to circumvent pa-
rental authority are a violation of parents’ constitu-
tionally 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 inti-
mate details of their family life violate Federal stat-
utes 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) Schools should never be allowed to intrude 
on family life by misleading or excluding parents 
and confusing children. 
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT OF PARENTAL CONSENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No Federal funds shall be made 
available to any elementary school or secondary school un-
less the elementary school or secondary school, with re-
spect to students enrolled at the school who have not yet 
reached 18 years of age, complies with each of the fol-
lowing requirements: 
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(1) School employees do not proceed with any 
accommodation intended to affirm a student’s pur-
ported ‘‘gender identity’’, where the student’s pur-
ported ‘‘gender identity’’ is incongruous with the 
student’s biological sex, or any action to facilitate a 
‘‘gender transition’’, including referral or rec-
ommendation to any third-party medical provider, 
unless the employees have received express parental 
consent to do so. 
(2) School employees do not facilitate, encour-
age, or coerce students to withhold information from 
their parents regarding the student’s ‘‘gender transi-
tion’’ or the student’s purported ‘‘gender identity’’, 
where the student’s purported ‘‘gender identity’’ is 
incongruous with the student’s biological sex. 
(3) School employees do not withhold or hide 
information from parents about a student’s desired 
‘‘gender transition’’ or a student’s purported ‘‘gen-
der identity’’, where the student’s purported ‘‘gender 
identity’’ is incongruous with the student’s biological 
sex. 
(4) School employees do not encourage, pres-
sure, or coerce the parents of students, or students 
themselves, to proceed with any treatment or inter-
vention to affirm the student’s purported ‘‘gender 
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identity’’, where that ‘‘gender identity’’ is incon-
gruous with the student’s biological sex. 
(b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed— 
(1) to prevent a school employee from con-
tacting appropriate legal authorities about an immi-
nent threat to a student’s physical safety in the 
event that the school employee knows or has a rea-
sonable suspicion that the student is at risk of phys-
ical abuse, as defined in section 1169 of title 18, 
United States Code; or 
(2) to deprive any parent of the right to be in-
volved in a child’s actions or discussions about gen-
der transition, without the due process of law. 
(c) ENSURING COMPLIANCE.—The head of each Fed-
eral agency shall require each application for Federal as-
sistance 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 edu-
cational 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— 
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