The federal Justice Department sued Anne Arundel County in Maryland on Tuesday, seeking to put a stop to what it said was a policy allowing students to pursue a gender transition at school, while hiding it from their parents.
Federal lawyers said the policy violates parents’ rights to know about their children’s behavior and activities at school.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Maryland, charges that county policy requires schools to facilitate gender transitions and allows them to refuse to tell parents who are deemed a “safety concern.”
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The county also reports that information to the state, again without parental input, DOJ said.
“Schools should not discuss preferred pronouns or ‘gender identity’ with a student without parental notification and consent,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
Anne Arundel County includes the state capital, Annapolis, home to the U.S. Naval Academy.
The complaint cites one female student whom school officials began to call by a male name, without telling the student’s parents.
The parents, practicing Christians who objected to the idea of a gender transition, learned of the situation when an accidental email arrived referring to their child by the male name.
School staff tried to recall the email and sent a new one with the child’s legal, female name, claiming the first message had been sent to the wrong family. But the parents figured out something was fishy, DOJ said.
The staff member eventually admitted to lying, saying the child had asked to be referred to by the male name.
When the parents instructed the school to only use the female name, the assistant principal said that was against policy, but said it would be done, according to the feds. But last spring, the family received an email about a field trip and saw it used the male name still.
The school system again claimed it was a mistake, but later admitted the lie.
After the parents pressed to get a look at their child’s records, the school system told them they would need to get a subpoena to see some of the information, the feds said.
The Washington Times has sought comment from the county school system.
The Justice Department has also battled two counties in Virginia over their policy of requiring transgender students to use locker rooms and be placed in hotels on stay-away field trips with other students who conform to their gender identity.
A district court had ruled the counties couldn’t sue in federal court, but an appeals court overturned that and sent the case back for more consideration.
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