Parents sue Anne Arundel schools, allege officials hid their child’s gender transition

Two parents, backed by a conservative nonprofit group, are suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools over the school system’s policies related to transgender children.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, accuses staff at an unidentified county high school of lying to the parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe, about their child, identified as Mary Doe.

The Does allege the school “socially transitioned” their child without notice or their consent by using a masculine name and masculine pronouns for Mary Doe.

Bob Mosier, a spokesperson for the school system, said officials were aware of the complaint but do not comment on litigation.

The lawsuit says a staff member at the school told the Does in December 2025 that they asked students what name they prefer to be called at the beginning of the semester, and that Mary Doe said they preferred a masculine name.

The lawsuit says the Does were unaware of the preferred name until they received an email on Dec. 10, discussing a lab experiment that would happen in class the next day.

The email used a male name, the lawsuit says, and the Does said they did not recognize the name as one of their child’s classmates.

The staff member attempted to “recall” the email and then sent a message saying it was not meant for the Doe family, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, the Does spoke with the staff member who “admitted to lying in the emails” and explained that Mary Doe had asked to go by a male name.

The Does say in the lawsuit that they demanded that school staff begin using Mary Doe’s legal name, but they have been rebuffed. The principal told the Does that school staff are trained and instructed to call students by their “preferred names and pronouns in the school setting,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit says the Does have sincerely held religious beliefs that “God creates each person as male or female, that sex is based on biology rather than internal self-perception, and that sex cannot be altered.”

Anne Arundel County Public Schools has a policy that students have “the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that correspond to the student’s gender identity.”

The suit asks for temporary and permanent injunctions that bar school officials from referring to Mary Doe by “anything other than her legal name” and for a declaration that the school system’s policies surrounding transgender children and gender identity are illegal.

The suit was filed by an attorney with America First Legal Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2021 by Stephen Miller, who is an influential advisor to President Donald Trump.

Recently, after a complaint by America First Legal, Montgomery County Public Schools adopted a policy that school officials must share a child’s gender identity with parents upon request.

Ian Prior, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, declined to comment.

The suit says the school system is in violation of the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Maryland Constitution.

This is a developing story.