WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on behalf of a group of courageous parents, America First Legal (AFL) sued the District Board of Education in Bethel, Ohio for forcing school children to share bathrooms and locker rooms with members of the opposite sex, and for violating their parental and religious rights under the United States Constitution, Title IX, and Ohio state law.

For over a century, Bethel school district has prohibited biological males and biological females from using the same intimate facilities, even disciplining students for violating this rule. At a school board meeting on September 13, 2021, a faculty member proposed changing of the longstanding rules and asked the Board to allow students to use facilities of their preferred “gender identity.” On January 10, 2022, the Board announced it had adopted the proposed change, claiming that it was necessary to comply with the law, without public discussion, deliberation, or voting. This violated Ohio state law providing that “any resolution, rule, or formal action of any kind is invalid unless adopted in an open meeting of the public body.”

Parents have the constitutional and statutory right to prevent a public school from forcing their children to share intimate facilities with members of the opposite biological sex. AFL will keep fighting to protect families across America.

Read the complaint here.