A Houston school district agreed to stop treating a female student as male, after the student’s parents filed suit against the district for secretly addressing the student with a male name and pronouns.
Houston Independent School District (HISD), the largest school district in Texas, operates Bellaire High School, the school Sarah and Terry Osborn’s daughter attends. The couple discovered that HISD employees had been addressing their daughter as a boy for several months after they found a masculine name on one of her schoolwork assignments. In December 2023, the Osborns spoke about the issue to school employees, who agreed to address her as a girl.
After discovering that the employees, following district policy, ignored their instructions, the Osborns sent a letter to the principal. In their letter, the Osborns stated that their daughter’s therapist believes the school’s treatment of her as male is “detrimental to her physical and emotional well-being” and is “negatively impacting her continuing care.” In a September 2024 meeting with the principal, they held that the school’s handling of their daughter burdened their faith and how they chose to raise her.
However, the school continued to refer to her by a male name in her schoolwork.
On behalf of the Osborns, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) sent a letter to the district, requesting documents about HISD’s policy or practice of treating students according to nonbiological gender identities without parental knowledge. The letter asked for assurance that they would stop treating her as a boy. After their letter was ignored, ADF filed suit on the Osborns’ behalf against the district.
Accusing the school of violating the family’s religious beliefs, the lawsuit states that the Osborns believe that they have “a God-given responsibility to provide for and participate in all aspects of their children’s upbringing and in a way that is consistent with their faith.” The Osborns believe that God created everyone “with a fixed biological sex that is a gift from God, not an arbitrary imposition subject to change” and that affirming views contrary to their beliefs violates their religious convictions.
Six months after the suit, the school officials agreed to stop treating her as a boy.
“Parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education and health care of their children without fear of government interference,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, director of ADF’s Center for Parental Rights, in a press release. “Schools should never hide vital information from parents, let alone go against their express instructions related to the well-being of their children. School officials should support parents, not replace them. In this case, we’re pleased HISD agreed to honor the Osborns’ wishes and respect parents’ constitutional rights.”
