Family Files Federal Lawsuit Against Leon County School Board over Gender Policy

Family Files Federal Lawsuit Against Leon County School Board over Gender Policy

On Monday, October 18, 2021, the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Littlejohn against the Leon County School Board (LCSB). The defendants also include Superintendent Rocky Hanna and Dr. Kathleen Rodgers.

Tallahassee Reports has previously written about this issue.

The suit alleges that the LCSB ignored the Littlejohn’s parental rights relating to their daughter’s gender confusion by concealing from them actions taken by school officials.

Child and Parental Rights Campaign, Inc. (CPR-C) is a non-partisan, non-profit public interest law firm whose mission is to defend parental rights and protect children’s well-being against the impacts of gender identity ideology.

The lawsuit was filed after the parents made repeated requests to the Leon County School District for the legal justifications for the district’s actions. However, no such legal authority was ever provided.

For over a year, Mr. and Mrs. Littlejohn had been meeting with school officials and Superintendent Rocky Hanna to resolve the issue.

Meeting Without Parents

The conflict began in August 2020, when the parents told their daughter’s teacher about her gender confusion and explained their daughter was receiving counseling to guide her.

They explained to the teacher their daughter would be allowed to adopt a new nickname at school if she desired, but they had not consented to her changing her name or pronouns.

Several weeks later, the parents discovered by the admission from their daughter that several school staff members met with her to note such things as what bathroom she wanted to use and what sex she wanted to room with on overnight trips. During these actions by school officials, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Littlejohn had received any communication from the school regarding a meeting involving their daughter.

After the Littlejohn’s received a copy of the “LCS Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Gender Nonconforming and Questioning Support Guide,” during a meeting with school officials, they were alarmed by its contents.

The guide claims that under federal and state law, parents are not to be informed if a child identifies as transgender, which restroom the child chooses to use, and the child has the right to keep their chosen gender identity from their parents.

The parents noted that,in their view, the most egregious violation in the Guide is found on page 15 under Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: A student has exhibited behavior in school leading administrators or teachers to believe the student is LGBTQ+. Should the parents or legal guardians be notified?

A: No. Outing a student, especially to parents, can be very dangerous to the student’s health and well-being. Some students are not able to be out at home because their parents are unaccepting of LGBTQ+ people out. As many as 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ+, many of whom have been rejected by their families for being LGBTQ+. Outing students to their parents can literally make them homeless.

Subsequently, the parents requested the guidance document be publicly rescinded by LCS (Leon County Schools) and a new policy requiring parental notification be put in its place. Though Superintendent Hanna has personally addressed the issue and has said that the guidance document would be amended, it has not been modified so far.

The lawsuit asserts that LCS violated their parental rights under the United States and Florida constitutions. CPR-C attorney Mary McAlister states that “school officials cannot continue to ignore the direction of parents concerning their minor children’s mental health and well-being. Parental rights are amongst our most venerated constitutionally protected rights and are critical to the integrity of our public school system of education.”

29 Responses to "Family Files Federal Lawsuit Against Leon County School Board over Gender Policy"

  1. Some of you really don’t understand biology. Hormone therapy before puberty allows a person the chance to avoid the psychological damage of experiencing their body becoming further alien to their internal identity. To get there takes a TON of counseling and testing to ensure it ISN’T a mistake. Do you hear any significant number of fully transitionedindividuals lamenting that they made a mistake? No. Because the counseling and testing is SO thorough.

    And do not discount the physical and emotional damage done by parents and family to LGBTQ+ . To treat them according to YOUR wants, needs and beliefs and not who they are IS abuse and that’s the mildest side of it.

    Beyond that, the law that was written supposedly to deal with this is garbage legislation written with zero understanding of intelligence regarding the application of law. I look forward to the unforseen consequences coming for this poorly written piece of legislation.

  2. I am sorry for the pain the first commenter has experienced. But parents are responsible for their children. Who brought this child into the world? Who pays the taxes to pay the school staff? Who pays for this child’s health insurance? Dental? Vision? Who buys this child’s clothing, food, telephone, tablet or computer and provides a home? Do the teachers? No. Teachers need to teach specific subjects.

  3. By all means, let’s pray away the gay. FFS what dated nonsense is this ? What god are you praying to? The same one who allows children to suffer at the hands of their parents? Educated, concerned adults who spend 6 hours a day with a child cannot POSSIBLY know better than Bubba, a ‘father’ who sometimes shows up sober to a school play. Be grateful somebody cares enough to get involved and listen to a child. Do you have any idea how many child abusers are ‘outed’ by school staff? Do your research.

  4. Sadly, this is happening in schools across the US. Parents need to speak up and ask their Reps to get laws on the books that support parental rights, make schools more transparent, and ensure the safety of our children. No child is born in the wrong body. Lying to children that they can should be a criminal offense. These court cases will eventually prove that.

  5. The guide claims that under federal and state law, parents are not to be informed if a child identifies as transgender, which restroom the child chooses to use, and the child has the right to keep their chosen gender identity from their parents. Is this true? “As many as 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ+, ( this means, at most, no more than that) many, (this can mean 5%-80 of the 40%) of whom have been rejected by their families for being LGBTQ+. Outing students to their parents can literally make them homeless. No big deal but this is a bold faced lie, “can literally make them homeless” Literally (weak word) it does or it doesn’t, not can. Randy Andy Gillum was GBQ is not he?

  6. By the parents’ admission, they have a “daughter.” A child does not have the intellectual capacity to be “gender-confused.” If, when she becomes an adult, she wishes to have surgery and otherwise conduct herself as a male, that is her’s to do if she can afford the medical care to do it. In the meantime, she is a girl. Really, that’s the end of it.

  7. This is textbook Marxist idea-manifestation of destroying the family. What is so concerning is that there are teachers, administrators and the idiot super who actually go along without questioning this absurd reasoning for not including parents–that the child risks becoming homeless. Really? My God.

  8. When a civilization cannot even define what a man or a woman is anymore, it’s over. The child abusing Scruel Board Kommissars and vile Stupidintendant (props to Edward on that one), knew full well about this policy. They just chose to quietly ignore it and pretend ignorance. Like roaches they scurry from the light of undeniable truth. God bless the parents leading the charge on the lawsuit. Sadly it will take more than lawsuits to defeat these vile evildoers and the psychopathic Capital District voters who keep voting these trash Kommissars back into office.

  9. The political grandstanding by the Littlejohns may destroy what relationship they have left with their own child meanwhile the Leon County School District is making a no-win situation worse and the fringe lunatics are rampaging. Just another day in today’s America.

  10. Good Morning,

    Breaking news: Jet fuel UP 100%… meanwhile the treason by Biden and Hunter go unchecked.. still unindicted… Pelosi continues kangaroo court for January 6th… still no accountability for Afghanistan debacle…

    On the local scene… Two out of three candidates for the CSC director’s position withdraw leaving the mayor’s wife’s endorsement candidate remaining… the mayor’s wife pick has heavy campaign experience, very convenient that her husband is running for re-election… will the mayor get a new campaign manager at the taxpayers expense, again?

  11. See my thing is if your child is part of this group why don’t you take them out of school. Because I know the teachers are doing a very bad thing. But the main topic is is the child getting bullied or whatever else is going on. Because if you lost this case you’re spinning out a whole lot of money over a gender identity. Granted that is not the teacher business to even do that. But people forget your kids just there to get an education and leave. Because when this kid get on the real world that kid may not make it

  12. “Two Wong’s Don’t Make a Right, and Two Men Can’t Make a Baby”

    … on THIS… the Science is Settled

    It seems these clowns received their Degrees from Jeffrey Epstein University

  13. Conservatives MUST run as independents. Only run as a Republican if you are a dook for brains who loves to lose and loves to scam your supporters out of their time and money.
    You will NOT win anything in Leon/Tallahassee as a Republican!
    Locals are tired of the elected nannies just like conservatives are…they will vote independent but never Republican…its too close to Orange Man Bad for the locals. If you can understand what I’m writing so far you can win!!!!

  14. These elected officials are the most immoral people on the planet. They are on the side of perverts. Everybody should be against perversion. Yet, they are attempting to lead out children into perversion. These people are perverts themselves.

  15. It seems like the LCSB has given up trying to teach students to read and write, so they are going to regroup and teach them how to be queer without mom and dad finding out.

    And something tells me they will outperform the 49% satisfactory level of literacy they have achieved to date.

    The school board does not have the best interests of your children at heart. They are all villainous scum.

  16. I agree we need to vote these folks out. To do so, we need some conservative candidates to step up and run. Since 1970, only two Republicans have run for Supt. and only two have run for School Board. Only one Republican Board member has been elected. Usually our choice is another sorry liberal. Many of us Republicans over age 75 are too old. Step up young conservatives!

  17. Snidely said it all when he stated, “……leftist idiots our voters keep on electing again and again and again.” Until they’re voted out, this craziness will continue and get worse

    It’s best to vote every incumbent out of office if you don’t like the way things are going. By doing so you have a 50/50 chance of getting someone better or possibly worse. That method beats keeping a proven incompetent in office and being 100% certain you’ll just keep getting the same old crap.

  18. Q: A student has exhibited behavior in school leading administrators or teachers to believe the student is LGBTQ+. Should the parents or legal guardians be notified?

    A: If you are a Teacher, it’s none of your Business if a Student is a LGBT or Q (or any other letter). IF that Student comes to you to talk about an LGBT or Q issue, Your Job is to tell them to talk to their Parents or Guardian about it or maybe the School Counselor. Being a Teacher, talking to the Student about their LGBT or Q issues is not your job. PLUS…….. you do NOT tell others about it let alone, get other Staff Members to gang up on them asking a bunch of questions and you DAMN SURE NEVER TELL THEM NOT TO TELL THEIR PARENTS. Any one on Staff who tells a Student NOT to tell their Parents should be FIRED.

  19. With the school board lawsuit and the County’s 8 – 9 million recent fine from the State its getting to expensive to keep voting for leftist idiots any longer.
    You know property taxes are going to have to be jacked up a lot to pay for these leftist idiots our voters keep on electing again and again and again.

  20. The government should no longer be in the education business since they have turned it into a radical left indoctrination business.

    They need to get their nose out of our families.

    School Choice: My Child, My Choice!

  21. Again, they are practicing medicine without a license.

    Unqualified medical decisions by the government. It’s something I never thought would be compromising our freedoms. The overreach is encroaching upon us by the hour. PRAY!

  22. @ A Skeptic… You’re absolutely correct. Semantics and the numbers game are classic Alinsky tactics used by the wakjobs on the left.

    What’s 40% of 2 students?

    Lies and deception to forward a false narrative in an attempt to normalize a mental disorder known as Gender Dysphoria…

  23. As many as 40% … many of whom have been rejected by their families.

    “As many as 40%” isn’t even a guess. They don’t know how many so they make up a meaningless statistic that includes no foundation.

    “many of whom” doesn’t even warrant a fictitious statistic.

    What a pack of lies…..

  24. O/T …

    Breaking news… The last remaining candidate for the CSC director’s position, Cecka Rose Green, should be disqualified for many reasons…

    1) she is endorsed by the mayor’s wife, Ginny Dailey

    2) she was heavily involved in the Andrew Gillum 2018 gubernatorial campaign as director of special events and chief Information

    3) she is endorsed by Sharon Lettman-Hicks who the Democratic Party cut ties with and was involved in questionable if not illegal financial transactions with Andrew Gillum’s 2018 campaign

  25. The Student was ALREADY OUT AT HOME, HELLOOOOOO, it was the MOTHER that told YOU about it, REMEMBER. The very second YOU approached the Student about it, you overstepped. All of you involved should be Fired NOW.

  26. “A: No. Outing a student, especially to parents, can be very dangerous to the student’s health and well-being. Some students are not able to be out at home because their parents are unaccepting of LGBTQ+ people out. As many as 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ+, many of whom have been rejected by their families for being LGBTQ+. Outing students to their parents can literally make them homeless.”

    That garbage alone should put to rest any uncertainty that our Public School System has indeed been transformed into a Public Indoctrination System. The damage these reprobates are doing to our children – hence our Nation and future – is undeniable. I hope and pray the Littlejohn’s prevail in a huge way… and I hope and pray that all parents wake up and get there children away from these maniacal degenerates forthwith.

    May God help us protect our children from these evil pawns of the warped and perverse.

  27. Good. I hope the LCSB gets ripped a new one. None of these people have the best interests of children in mind- they have their own interests in mind.

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