The Trump administration is being urged to investigate school districts in California, Illinois, and Virginia amid allegations that policies allow students to hide their gender identities from their parents.
The complaints, filed Friday by America First Legal, were submitted to the Departments of Justice and Education as the superintendents of the San Francisco Unified School District, Chicago Public Schools, and Loudoun County Public Schools are set to testify Wednesday before the House Education and Workforce Committee.
The filings came before the DOJ announced Monday it was launching a compliance review into four California public school districts, including SFUSD, regarding instruction on sexual orientation and gender ideology in grades pre-K-12. The review will examine whether and to what extent the school districts notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction.
According to America First Legal's complaints, the three school districts adopted "radical policies" that violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.
The complaints allege the districts "systematically concealed critical information from parents by facilitating students' social 'gender transitions'" and changed "names, pronouns, school records, and facility access, while withholding those actions from families."
The filings further contend the districts permitted "biological males to access female restrooms, locker rooms, and showers," creating what the complaints described as a hostile environment for female students in violation of Title IX.
"These school districts have constructed elaborate systems to hide what is happening to children from the very people who have a fundamental right to know: their parents," Ian Prior, senior counsel for America First Legal, said in a statement.
"Congress and the executive branch need to take a serious look at these schools and take every action available to remedy these legal violations. Parents are not the enemy, and the era of school districts secretly facilitating life-altering decisions for children behind their parents' backs must come to an end."
The group further alleges violations of parents' constitutional rights under the Free Exercise and Due Process clauses, citing the Supreme Court's decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which held that policies concealing a child's "gender transition" from parents are subject to strict scrutiny because they "cut out the primary protectors of children's best interests: their parents."
America First Legal also alleges that SFUSD and Chicago Public Schools violated the Supreme Court's decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor by embedding "gender ideology" into classroom instruction as early as pre-kindergarten without parental notice or a meaningful opportunity for parents to opt their children out of those discussions.
"These burdens are compounded by the District's active promotion of gender ideology in classroom instruction through published curriculum resources — including the 'LGBTQ Family + Gender Diversity Teaching Resource for Elementary Grades' — directed at students across all grade levels, including elementary-age children, without parental notice, consent, or an opportunity to opt out," the group wrote in its complaint against SFUSD.
"And because the policy elevates the interests of some students while offering objecting families no comparable accommodation, it likely runs afoul of the Free Exercise Clause."
Newsmax reached out to the three school districts for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.