A pair of Colorado families have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against their children’s school district, alleging school officials secretly recruited their children for an after-school club focused on gender and sexual orientation.
Both families allege that school officials and GSA club members used deceitful tactics to recruit their children into the club, and encouraged secretive behavior to keep their parents from knowing what they were doing. The lawsuit states that agents of the school district who were involved in the GSA club told the children participating that, “discussing GSA materials at home with their families might not be safe.”
The lawsuit claims an art teacher had invited the Lee’s daughter, who is interested in art, into a “GSA Art Club” without explaining the GSA acronym to her or her parents.
The lawsuit claims the Jurich family was similarly led to believe their daughter was attending an anime club when she was actually attending a GSA club meeting. The Jurich family claimed their daughter knew she was actually going to attend a GSA meeting instead of an anime club, but was convinced by a transgender friend in the GSA club to lie to her parents.
“This sort of misdirection reflected the secrecy and subterfuge in which the Club encouraged children to engage, as well as the mistrust of parents and destruction of the parent-child relationship that the Club engendered,” the civil complaint said of the Jurich family’s situation.
It was within this secretive setting that the lawsuit alleges officials involved in the GSA club taught children about polyamory, suicide, puberty blockers, transgenderism and gender identities, sexualities, and changing names and pronouns.
The lawsuit further claims that one of the teachers involved in the club presented herself as a more trustworthy adult to talk to than the children’s parents, and gave the children her contact information so that they could contact her directly. The school officials involved in the club are further accused of encouraging children to “come out” as transgender by rewarding them with prizes—in the form of “LGBTQ paraphernalia such as toys, flags,” etc.—if they did.
The Lee family claims their daughter had not fully understood the concept of suicide and had not expressed any thoughts about transgenderism prior to attending the GSA club. Still, after her very first time attending a GSA meeting, their daughter announced that she wanted to transition her gender.
The lawsuit alleges PSD officials and employees violated parental rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit requests that a federal court compel the school district to provide parents with notice and an opt-out right when the topic of gender dysphoria is taught in schools, and to award punitive damages for violating parental rights. The parents are also seeking compensation for private school tuition, medical expenses, and counseling fees as a result of this episode.
PSD also employs a confidentiality and privacy policy that states: “Students have a general right to keep their transgender or non-binary status private from other students, parents, or third parties.”
The PSD spokesperson said the school district is currently evaluating the lawsuit.
