NC school district removed books featuring gay parents. It now faces federal complaint.

T. Keung Hui
·4 min read
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A North Carolina school district is facing a federal civil rights complaint after it ordered books featuring gay parents to be removed from elementary schools.

In April 2023, the Moore County school board adopted a local version of what would become North Carolina’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights” law that limits discussion on gender identity and sexuality in elementary schools. On Tuesday, the Southern Pines chapter of PFLAG and Public School Advocates filed a Title IX complaint accusing Moore County of discriminating against LGBTQ families by removing materials featuring same-sex parents.

“We raise this issue in an effort to protect the LGBTQ+ community, including faculty, students, and their families, from Moore County Schools’ harmful and outright discriminatory policies and guidelines,” said the complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights

A spokesperson from the Moore County school system did not return The News & Observer’s request for comment on Tuesday. Moore County is about 70 miles southwest of Raleigh.

Moore County should be free to decide what books to use without worrying about federal interference, said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, which backed the statewide Parents’ Bill of Rights law.

“I believe that county school systems have the legal right under state law to decide what kind of topics and programs they want their children to learn,” Fitzgerald said in an interview Tuesday. “That’s a concept we’ve had in our state for hundreds of years: local control.”

The state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights law is facing a similar federal Title IX complaint filed by the Asheville-based Campaign for Southern Equality. They’re among the groups who filed a Title IX complaint against the Buncombe County school system for following the Parents’ Bill of Rights.

Removing books with gay parents

The Moore County school board adopted Parents’ Bill of Rights policies ahead of the Republican-led General Assembly making it a state law. Like the state law, Moore County requires parents to be notified if their child wants to use a different pronoun or name.

The new state law also bans instruction in the curriculum on sexuality, sexual activity or gender identity in kindergarten through fourth-grade classrooms. The district policy uses slightly different wording.

Moore County’s policy says instruction on sexual activity or sexuality will not be included in the K-4 curriculum. The policy also says “the subject of gender identity and gender fluidity shall not be taught in Moore County Schools.”

Moore County school board members David Hensley and Robert Levy at a April 2023 meeting where they adopted a local “Parents’ Bill of Rights” policy. That policy is now being challenged in a federal Title IX complaint.
Moore County school board members David Hensley and Robert Levy at a April 2023 meeting where they adopted a local “Parents’ Bill of Rights” policy. That policy is now being challenged in a federal Title IX complaint.

To help implement the local policies and state law, the district provided principals with an implementation guide.

“Principals will need teachers to record any additional materials, including books that are added to their classrooms (not to include district materials) and remove any books that discuss/share a person’s sexual activity, sexuality or gender identity,” according to the implementation guide. “For example, a book with homosexual parents or a student questioning their gender.”

PFLAG says singling out books with gay parents violates Title IX and goes beyond what’s required in state law. The group wants a list of the books that have been removed.

“Implementing policies and practices that favor heterosexuality and cisgender identities equates to preferential treatment based on gender identity and sexual orientation, which is prohibited under Title IX,” according to an April letter from PFLAG and Public School Advocates to the district.

New federal Title IX regulations

Both groups are relying on the Biden Administration’s interpretation of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination in institutions receiving federal education funding.

The Biden Administration included banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to recently released final Title IX regulations. Supporters of the new guidelines say it will help protect the rights of LGBTQ students.

Officials from nearly two dozen GOP-led states have voiced their opposition to the Title IX regulations, United Press International reported. Multiple states have filed lawsuits, while state leaders like Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, said their states will not comply.

“Congress never interpreted sex to include sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Fitzgerald of the N.C. Values Coalition. “These new rules are counter to the purpose of Title IX as adopted by Congress.”