Attorneys for a Moore Public Schools transgender student on Thursday asked a Cleveland County judge to stop the Oklahoma State Department of Education from making a rule prohibiting gender changes in school records permanent. The rule proposal was on Thursday’s board meeting agenda, but board members pushed the item to the January 25 meeting.
A ruling on the injunction is also expected in January.
The student, referred to in the lawsuit as J. Doe, received a court order to change the student’s name and gender on government records, including school records. But on September 28, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters proposed an emergency rule prohibiting school districts and local school sites from altering any sex or gender designations in any prior year student records without authorization from the State Board of Education.
The board unanimously adopted the rule that day and in October denied two students’ requests for gender changes in school records, one of which was the Moore student’s.
The State Board of Education could make that rule permanent next month, barring a judge’s order stopping them.
“Administrative overreach and interference from the state as it relates to raising children in Oklahoma must stop,” Colleen McCarty, an attorney representing the plaintiff who is the executive director of Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, said in a written statement. “This lawsuit sends a strong message that Oklahomans will not tolerate the government interfering with their private family affairs. Parents know what’s best for their kids, and we are willing to stand up for that bedrock principle.”
The lawsuit cites violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment as well as procedural missteps, violations of the Oklahoma Parents’ Bill of Rights, due process violation of parents’ fundamental right to control the upbringing and education of their child under the 14th Amendment, violation of the Oklahoma State Constitution due process clause, and violation of Title IX.
The child’s name-change proceedings have since been sealed to protect the student’s identity.
In the petition, the student argues that the rule is discriminatory and was drafted maliciously.
“Defendant Walters’ motivations for the Rule and subsequent denial are well known as a result of his many media appearances during which he reliably denigrates transgender children,” the plaintiff claimed.
The petition then recounts multiple public statements made by Walters and board members assailing changes in gender identity.
“This is an absolute assault on our classrooms, on our kids’ minds, on Christianity,” the lawsuit quoted Walters as saying during a September media appearance. “This is an assault on faith. What they want is for kids to go home and tell their moms and dads, ‘We should be able to change our gender, we should be able to talk about transgenderism,’ … so this is a war on parents, kids, and faith.”
In addition to an injunction preventing the state Board of Education from adopting the rule permanently, the plaintiff asked the court to declare the rule invalid on multiple grounds and award compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Walters issued a press release in response calling the lawsuit frivolous.
“Our pronoun policy aligns with common sense, truth, and reality and protects schools and teachers from unfounded accusations of discrimination,” the press release said.
Joshua Payton, founder of the Oklahoma Equality Law Center and one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, argued that the rule jeopardized the rights of all Oklahoma parents.
“This should concern all parents and all Oklahomans,” Payton said in a press release. “If Ryan Walters can succeed in removing the rights of parents in this family, there will be no safeguards against doing so against any Oklahoma parent.”
Ed. Note: This story was updated on Dec. 21, 2023 at 4:46 p.m. to reflect action taken at the Board of Education meeting and to add information from a press release issued by Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
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