SANTA FE (Liberty Counsel) — Liberty Counsel filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) against Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) on behalf of parents who withdrew their daughter from school after district policies normalized sexual misconduct from a gender-confused male student. The complaint states that these policies allowing students to “identify” as a different gender and access opposite sex facilities amounts to sex discrimination against females and violates Title IX, students’ civil rights, and parental constitutional rights.
According to the complaint, SFPS officials dismissed repeated parental reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by a male student identifying as a female, resulting in an unproductive and unsafe learning environment for their child. The complaint further alleges that not only did SFPS fail to take action under Title IX’s sexual harassment standards, it encourages or facilitates “gender transition” measures while delaying parental notification, contrary to federal court decisions affirming parental authority over such matters.
The complaint states that SFPS policies:
- “prioritize the desires of males over females.”
- create unsafe conditions for girls in private facilities.
- encourage “gender transition” without parental notification or consent.
- expose children to and attempt to normalize inappropriate sexual behavior.
The filing requests the OCR open an investigation into SFPS, review their gender identity policies, and take corrective action aligned under federal law and constitutional precedent to eliminate this discriminatory and harassing environment.
“SFPS’ secret transitioning, renaming, and re-sexing of children without meaningful parental consent violates clearly established parental rights caselaw extending back more than 100 years,” reads the complaint.
The 2025 Mahmoud v. Taylor and 2026 Mirabelli v. Bonta Supreme Court rulings reinforce the complaint’s claim that SFPS policies that exclude parents from critical decisions involving their children are unlawful. In Mahmoud, the High Court held that parents have a protected right to remove their children from instruction that conflicts with their religious upbringing.
In Mirabelli, the High Court blocked California gender secrecy policies, finding that parents are likely to succeed in their claims that these policies violate their longstanding substantive due process right to direct their children’s education and mental health issues. Together, these cases support the complaint’s assertion that SFPS’ confidentiality and “gender-support” procedures “usurp the decision-making authority historically reserved to parents,” which “impermissibly sideline them from significant religious, moral, and developmental issues regarding their children,” concludes Liberty Counsel.
In January 2026, Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to SFPS requesting it protect all students by disciplining students engaging in sexual misconduct, eliminating its policies that encourage gender “transitions” and secrecy, and reinstating sex-based privacy restrictions for restrooms and locker rooms. However, SFPS declined to change its policies.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The deliberate indifference by Santa Fe Public Schools toward sexual misconduct and the safety and wellbeing of female students violates Title IX and ignores morality and biological reality. A federal investigation is the next step toward correcting these unlawful actions to protect students. Parents should not have to withdraw a child from school over gender policies that violate federal law, endanger children, and usurp parental rights. SFPS should eliminate these policies immediately to protect children.”
Reprinted with permission from Liberty Counsel
