Father sues Washington school district over LGBT lessons

Attorneys for Konstantin Averkiev filed a federal lawsuit against the Lake Washington School District after it refused to allow his son to opt out of lessons containing LGBT ideology, legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom said Wednesday. The school district, located east of Seattle, rejected requests for Averkiev’s rising fifth grader to skip LGBT-related requirements, including individual counseling sessions and the use of preferred pronouns. The district only granted an opt-out for the curriculum specifically dealing with sex education, according to ADF. Averkiev’s son already received a Pride Month lesson that included discussions of gender-transition surgery while he was in fourth grade, according to ADF.

Averkiev wanted to raise his son in line with his Christian faith, including beliefs on sex, gender, and marriage, according to court documents. The district’s refusal harmed Averkiev’s First and 14th Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion and due process, his attorneys argued. They cited the Supreme Court’s decision last summer in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that schools couldn’t burden parental and religious rights by forcing children to listen to LGBT storybook readings.

Averkiev’s attorneys called on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to issue a permanent injunction, which would require the school district to allow Averkiev to opt his child out of the activities. They also asked the court to require the school to give advance notice of LGBT-related instruction and instances in which Averkiev’s son would be expected to share an intimate space with a person of the opposite sex, in order to make a timely opt-out decision possible. They also asked the court to order the school district to pay damages and legal fees to Averkiev.

How has the school district responded? In a Thursday statement, a spokeswoman for the Lake Washington School District told WORLD that the district was aware of the lawsuit, but declined to comment on the litigation directly. She said the lesson material Averkiev objected to was focused on empathy, inclusion, bullying prevention and school belonging. The lesson did reference students who adopted a LGBT identity, according to the spokeswoman. She went on to say that the school affirmed the rights of parents and students to opt out of sexual health curriculum and surveys, and was at the same time committed to creating a safe and welcoming learning environment.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s explanation of the Supreme Court’s decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor.