US Justice Department suing Anne Arundel school district to stop 'secret gender transitions'

ANNE ARUNDEL, Md. - The US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools to stop the district from "from secretly “gender transitioning” children without their parents’ knowledge or consent and blocking parents’ access to information about their children," a release announced Tuesday.

According to the release, the department alleges that the district's policies surrounding gender directs "school staff to solicit, document, and act upon a student’s self‑identified name, pronouns, and “gender identity” without notifying parents."

In also alleges that the district instructs staff to withhold information regarding a student's gender identity from parents as well as reporting it to the Maryland Department of Education without notifying parents.

The release goes on to say that the department's complaint includes an anonymous family and its struggles with the district's policies. The district allegedly "questioned students, one-on-one, about their preferred names and pronouns" and the student's parents "received emails from teachers referring to their daughter by a male name and pronouns."

The student's parents reportedly confronted the district, who denied "helping their daughter pretend to be male at school."

"Although AACPS eventually admitting to lying, AACPS declined to give the Does details about their daughter’s “gender transition” and refused to turn over the child’s relevant education records," the release said.

The lawsuit aims to enforce the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).

“Schools should not discuss preferred pronouns or ‘gender identity’ with a student without parental notification and consent,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the release. “Parents should not be lied to, stonewalled, or branded as ‘safety concerns’ when they ask to see the education records that reveal what schools are secretly doing to their children. This Department will end illegal school policies that keep parents in the dark.”

WMAR-2 News has reached out to the district for comment on the lawsuit.

Read the complaint here.

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