North Carolina Parents Demand Religious Opt-Out Rights Over Teacher Hire
A group of parents at a southern Wake County elementary school, represented by the Thomas More Society, sent the Wake County Public School System a demand letter on September 15 asking for written guarantees of religious accommodation after the district hired a music teacher who is transgender. The letter asks the district to let parents opt their children out of that teacher's class, to ensure no student is disciplined for declining to use the teacher's preferred pronouns, to give parents advance notice and opt out rights for any classroom discussion of gender identity, and to guarantee the teacher does not share a restroom or locker room with students. The parents gave the district fifteen days to respond in writing before they said they would file suit.
Thomas More Society attorneys argue recent Supreme Court precedent requires the district to accommodate parents who object on religious grounds to school policies involving gender identity and pronoun use. The district said its hiring and employment policies include nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, and pointed to its existing class assignment policy, which gives principals discretion over student placement while considering parental requests. The district had not issued a full public response to the demand letter as of this writing.
