Parents Win CA Gender Case: ‘Illegal for School Districts to Keep Parents in the Dark’

A California school district must provide notification and opt-outs to parents and students when promoting gender ideology during a mentoring program, a federal judge has ruled. 

Judge James Lorenz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction that requires the Encinitas Union School District to provide notification to parents, and to allow them to opt-out their children when the schools promote LGBT gender ideology in “buddy classes”– a mentoring program that pairs 5th grade students with kindergarteners. 

First Liberty, a non-profit legal group, represented two families in court after two fifth-grade boys at La Costa Heights Elementary School were forced to affirm a book titled “My Shadow is Pink,” which teaches children to question their gender identity. 

First Liberty explains that the book “tells a story of a boy who sees his shadow as pink (instead of blue), depicted as ‘your inner-most you,’ and decides to wear a dress to school. The dad changes his beliefs, puts on a dress too, and tells his son, ‘Your shadow is you and pink it will be, so stand up with your shadow and yell, THIS IS ME!'”

“The fifth graders were exposed to this troubling message, which ran counter to their religious beliefs. They were also forced to indoctrinate a kindergarten ‘buddy’ in this teaching as part of the school’s mentoring program,” the legal group further explains. 

The fifth graders told their parents they were uncomfortable with the book’s message because it violated their personal beliefs and they “did not wish to affirm the book’s message to their buddies.” 

The parents were shocked to hear about the buddy program’s gender lesson. Weeks prior, the school notified parents and allowed students to opt out of a Human Growth and Development Unit on gender identity, Eastern Progress reports. 

The parents of the students requested notice and opt-outs for similar lessons in the future, but were denied. 

“The district claims these opt-outs are unavailable. But it allows opt-outs for other activities, like animal dissections for students with moral objections. School officials determined children must learn and affirm gender identity teaching—no matter what parents or the children believe,” First Liberty explained in a statement.

In September 2024, First Liberty Institute and the National Center for Law & Policy filed a complaint and motion for preliminary injunction claiming the school violated the student’s First Amendment rights. 

“All across America, religious parents and families are facing unprecedented attacks on their rights,” the group stated. “While stifling religious freedom, school districts seem to be comfortable with forcing radical ideology on students, often in violation of their religious beliefs. It’s wrong—and illegal—for school districts to keep parents in the dark or to tell them that they can’t opt their children out from controversial materials.”

Judge Lorenz ruled in favor of the families, writing in his opinion that “compelling individuals to mouth support for views they find objectionable violates the First Amendment,” highlighting the school’s “admission that the buddy program is a mandatory part of the Curriculum.” 

The court’s order instructs that “buddy program class activities and materials shall not cover gender identity topics covered in health instruction, unless Defendants provide parents with advance notice and an opportunity to opt out.”

First Liberty applauded the ruling. 

No child should be forced to speak a message that violates his religious convictions,” said Nate Kellum, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “We are grateful for the court’s decision and will continue to fight to ensure that elementary children are not forced to participate in lessons about gender identity that violate their faith.”

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