While some government officials in Alaska celebrated Pride Month in June, including Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance shown here before raising a rainbow flag at City Hall, LGBTQ issues are receiving a frosty response from the nation’s highest court. Some of the most consequential rulings on these issues are being handed down by the Supreme Court in favor of parental rights and religious liberty. 

We celebrate these victories that provide clarity to live our lives consistent with our deeply held convictions and protect young people from ideologies and medical practices inconsistent with true human flourishing.

United States v. Skrmetti

In 2025, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s law restricting gender-transition procedures for minors. The case found that Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The ruling sets a precedent for states to have greater authority to eliminate chemical and surgical mutilation of minors. 

Here in Alaska, although we applaud Governor Dunleavy and his acting Attorney General recently joining a lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission challenging this medical malpractice, we’re still wondering why that same Department of Law hasn’t released proposed regulations drafted by the Alaska Board of Medicine to stop the practice. In August of last year, the Board recommended that the chemical and surgical mutilation of minors should stop. The regulations are still sitting with the Attorney General as the Board and public wait.

Mahmoud v. Taylor

Also in 2025, SCOTUS ruled in favor of parents in Mahmoud v. Taylor, recognizing that a Maryland school district violated their rights when it wouldn’t permit them to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed curriculum that violated their deeply held religious beliefs. The decision reinforced parental rights and religious liberty within public education. 

CLICK HERE for the interview I had with an activist who orchestrated getting this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mirabelli v. Bonta

In March of this year, the Court ruled in favor of educators challenging California policies that prohibited school personnel from informing parents when a student requested to socially transition at school. The decision reinforces that schools should not exclude parents from significant decisions involving their child’s gender identity and raises serious constitutional concerns about policies requiring school personnel to withhold such information from parents.  

West Virginia v. B.P.J

And weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in West Virginia v. B.P.J., holding that states may maintain separate girls’ and boys’ athletic teams based on biological sex consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision establishes a nationwide precedent affecting schools, athletic associations, and state governments across the country. 

Alaska Family Council has been advocating for girls’ sports to be protected since our founding. Our efforts to collect over 2,000 signatures in support of keeping males out of female athletics influenced the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development to unanimously vote 7-0 in 2023 to prohibit male athletes from competing in girls’ division sports at the middle and high school levels.

While LGBTQ events and corporations withdrawing sponsorships are in the headlines, the most significant developments are taking place in the courts. Decisions involving parental rights, medical treatments for minors, and women’s sports will have a greater long-term impact on families, schools, and public policy than any LGBTQ celebration or corporate partnership. 

Government lifting up that which is good and true and beautiful is one of the key reasons God created this institution. Be of good cheer His Truth is marching on.

The views expressed here are those of the author.

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