A pair of religious parents have filed a lawsuit against a Maryland school district after teachers respected their child’s request to use a masculine name and pronouns at school without first informing them.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday (8 July) in federal court against Anne Arundel County Public School District, seeks to force educators to stop using the student’s chosen name and pronouns, instead requiring staff to refer to the child by their birth name and the pronouns associated with their sex assigned at birth.

The parents, identified in court only as John and Jane Doe, are being represented by the conservative legal organisation America First Legal, which was founded in 2021 by Trump adviser Stephen Miller and has repeatedly challenged LGBTQ+ protections in courts across the US.

The parents only became aware that school staff had been using their child’s chosen name on 10 December after a teacher accidentally emailed them using the student’s masculine name before attempting to recall the message. After confronting school officials, the parents reportedly demanded that staff revert to their child’s legal name, but administrators declined, citing district policy, as reported by The Baltimore Banner.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools states that students have “the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that correspond to the student’s gender identity”. The parents argue that the policy violates their constitutional rights and conflicts with their religious beliefs, which they say teach that “God creates each person as male or female” and that biological sex cannot be changed. They are asking the court not only to use their child’s original name and pronouns, but also to declare the district’s broader policies protecting transgender and gender-diverse students unlawful.

While a growing number of states have passed laws requiring schools to notify parents if a student requests a different name or pronouns, others have adopted policies allowing educators to respect students’ gender identities without automatically informing families, citing concerns that some young people could face rejection, abuse or homelessness if outed before they are ready. According to the Movement Advancement Project, 15 US states currently require schools to out transgender and non-binary students to parents.

A spokesperson for the school district has declined to comment on the case but said officials were aware of the complaint, as per The Baltimore Banner.