Parents Give NC School District 15 Days to Protect Religious Freedom or Face Lawsuit

• September 16, 2026

A crowd sits at a public meeting. One person holds a large sign reading PARENTS RIGHTS MATTER in bold letters above their head. Other attendees look on attentively.

A man holds a “Parent’s rights matter” sign at a Chino Valley school board meeting in Chino, California, on July 20, 2023. (David McNew/Getty Images)

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A group of parents has given a North Carolina school district 15 days to provide religious accommodations related to a transgender teacher or face a lawsuit, according to a demand letter obtained by the Daily Signal.

Thomas More Society attorneys argue that recent Supreme Court precedents require the Wake County Public School System to accommodate parents who object on religious grounds to policies involving gender identity, pronoun usage, and related instruction.

Parents who formed Middle Creek Parental Rights have expressed concerns about the ramifications of Wake County Public School System hiring a male music teacher who identifies as a transgender woman. The parents do not object to the school district hiring this teacher, but they seek accommodations to protect their religious freedom to raise their children according to their fundamental beliefs about sexuality and gender.

When they first requested accommodations, the district refused. The letter states that music is a required weekly class and that parents were told removing their children from the class would result in unexcused absences.

According to the letter, the parents asked the school district to guarantee in writing that parents may opt their children out of any class taught by the teacher; that no student will be disciplined for referring to the teacher using male pronouns; that parents will be given advance notice and the right to opt their kids out of discussions regarding gender identity; that the teacher will not share a bathroom or locker room with students; and that no family will face retaliation for asserting these rights.

“These are modest, common-sense protections, and the Constitution requires them,” Tyler Brooks, senior counsel at Thomas More Society, said in a statement on the letter. “Parents have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children, and children should not be punished for speaking in a way that is consistent with their family’s faith. We are only asking school officials to respect parents’ rights and not force issues of sexuality and gender identity on elementary school children.”

Legal Background

The letter cites three major Supreme Court cases dealing with these contentious issues.

It cites Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), in which the Supreme Court ruled that employers may not fire staff over their gender identity or sexual orientation, because such an act would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars firing on the basis of sex.

The letter also cites Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025), in which the Supreme Court upheld parents’ right to opt their kids out of instruction regarding LGBTQ materials and instruction. The court ruled that such instruction “burdens the religious exercise of parents” because it “requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill.”

The letter cites Mirabelli v. Bonta (2026), in which the court warned that school districts likely violate parental rights to guide the religious development of their children when the schools adopt policies of hiding a student’s transgender identity from his or her parents.

Doxxing Concerns

The letter also cites worrisome developments in Wake County. After members of Middle Creek Parental Rights raised concerns about how the school will handle the transgender issue, a speaker at a Wake County Board of Education meeting called these parents bigots and advocated for expelling their children from the school system.

The letter claims that a person who occasionally works for the school district sent a profane text message to one of the concerned parents, and that critics posted information about a concerned parent’s employer online.

“The Supreme Court has already made clear where the law stands on these questions,” Brooks said. “Wake County can honor these families’ rights now, or it can explain to a court why it believes the Constitution does not apply here.”

The Daily Signal reached out to the Wake County Public School System for comment and will update this story with any response.

Tyler O’Neil | Senior Investigative Reporter

Tyler O’Neil is senior investigative reporter at the Daily Signal and the author of two books, “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center” and “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.”

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