Parents have sued a California school district for refusing to allow their children to opt out of gender-ideology content after the fifth-graders were told to tutor kindergarteners on exploring different gender identities.
The complaint seeks a court order banning the Encinitas Union School District from requiring students to “affirm messages through ‘equity’ books that violate their moral conscience or sincerely held religious beliefs” with mandatory lessons on gender ideology.
“No child should be forced to speak a message that violates his religious convictions,” said Kayla Toney, associate counsel for First Liberty Institute, which filed the lawsuit on Sept. 10 with the National Center for Law & Policy on behalf of two families with sons now in the sixth grade.
“It is unconscionable that teachers would force Christian elementary students to teach 5-year-olds about gender identity in a way that violates their faith,” she said.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California accuses the district of violating the First and 14th Amendments by compelling the students to “affirm gender identity in action and word in violation of their religious beliefs and consciences.”
The complaint stems from a May lesson at La Costa Heights Elementary School in which the fifth-grade teacher read aloud the book “My Shadow is Pink” (Larrikin House, 2021) by Scott Stuart, which tells the story of a boy with a pink shadow described as “your inner-most you.”
The book designated by the publisher for ages 3-7 concludes with the boy deciding to wear a dress to school, after which his father also puts on a dress.
“The children in this case were forced to watch a read-aloud video of the book with their kindergartener ‘buddy’ as part of the school’s mentoring program,” First Liberty said in a press release. “Then they had to ask the kindergartener what color ‘represents’ him and draw the kindergartener’s shadow in chalk.”
Parents asked the school to give them notice and allow them to opt out of similar lessons in the future, but the district rejected their request.
The backlash was immediate. A Change.org petition called “Parental Opt-in for Controversial Curriculum in Encinitas Union School District” gathered 546 signatures, while concerned parents and community members spoke out at a packed May 21 school board meeting.
Hundreds of parents were turned away after the seats filled up, but “the first several rows of seats were reserved for unionized teachers wearing matching T-shirts that stated ‘Choose to Include,’” according to the lawsuit.
The board took no action. The parents later received a letter from Superintendent Andree Grey saying that the opt-out provision only applies to the fifth-grade health unit.
The parents disagreed, saying that families have been permitted to opt their children out of health surveys, standardized testing, student surveys, medical exams, and “animal dissections for students with moral objections.”
The Washington Times has reached out to the district for comment.
First Liberty has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of parents in a California school district. We’re asking the court to provide notification and opt-outs to parents and students when promoting gender ideology in class.
— First Liberty Institute (@1stLiberty) September 25, 2024
Attorney Kayla Toney explains: pic.twitter.com/lfqtdetogB
The fifth-grade students identified as S.E. and P.D. were both distressed by the book and reluctant to discuss it with their kindergarten “buddy,” whom they shared that day, the lawsuit said.
“S.E. told his parents he was upset and confused that Mr. [Sean] Murphy, a teacher he likes and respects, used a book for the ‘buddy’ program that Mr. Murphy knew went against his Christian beliefs and used him to convey this troubling message to a kindergartener,” the lawsuit said. “S.E. hoped his buddy would not understand the real meaning of the activity or the teaching on gender identity.”
His family pulled S.E. and his siblings out of the school and placed them in private school, but P.D. is now enrolled in sixth grade at La Costa Heights and again paired up with a younger “buddy.”
“Thus, the [parents] fear that something akin to My Shadow is Pink ’buddy’ program will occur again, harming their child, interfering with their parental rights,” the lawsuit said. “And like the ‘My Shadow is Pink’ exercise, it will happen without their knowledge, keeping them from being able to do anything about it.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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