Law Firm Demands “Opt-Outs” From Trans Music Teacher’s Class
The right-wing Thomas More Society is threatening a lawsuit and demanding protections for students who misgender the teacher.
The Thomas More Society is threatening to sue the Wake County Public School System unless it allows a group of parents to remove their children from a required music class taught by a transgender teacher at Middle Creek Elementary School in Apex, North Carolina.
The right-wing law firm, which advocates for religious exemptions for opponents of LGBTQ rights, sent a letter to the district outlining several additional demands, including written assurances that students will not be disciplined for misgendering the teacher.
The requested assurances would also require faculty and staff members to notify parents before discussing sexuality or gender identity and allow them to opt their children out — even from informal classroom discussions unrelated to the curriculum. They would bar the music teacher from occupying any restroom, locker room, or similar space at the same time as a student and prohibit retaliation against students who do not attend the class.
The September 15 letter gives the district 15 days to provide the requested assurances and threatens a lawsuit if it does not, according to Raleigh-based NBC affiliate WRAL.
Some parents at Middle Creek previously asked that their children be excused from the required music class because of the teacher’s gender identity, arguing that they don’t want them exposed to people or ideas that conflict with their religious and moral belief that sex is binary and fixed from birth. Those requests have not been granted, leading the parents to pick their children up from school instead of allowing them to attend the class.
Other parents argue that the issue is overblown and that the teacher has done nothing wrong, noting that no complaints have been lodged about her job performance.
In its letter, the Thomas More Society contends that recent court rulings require the district to excuse students from the music class. But one case the organization cites concerns parental notification and the forced outing of transgender students, while another, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, involved parents seeking to remove their children from lessons using LGBTQ-themed books.
Wake County’s religiously based opt-out policies currently allow students to be excused from certain lessons or reading material that conflicts with their religious beliefs and permit schools to provide alternative assignments. However, education analysts who spoke with WRAL say such exemptions typically apply to individual lessons, not an entire class. No complaints have been reported alleging that the music class includes LGBTQ-specific content.
When WRAL asked whether families could remove their children from a class based on religious objections to a teacher’s gender identity, the Wake County Public School System responded by providing the school board’s class assignment policy, which leaves reassignment decisions to the principal.
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