NJ school district drops policy hiding gender transitions from parents after Moms for Liberty lawsuit

A New Jersey school district has settled a Moms for Liberty lawsuit by agreeing never to readopt a gender identity policy that let staff keep students’ transitions secret from parents.

The School District of the Chathams Board of Education approved the settlement 7–0 at its Oct. 12 meeting, ending a federal lawsuit filed by Moms for Liberty in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Under the agreement, the board will not readopt its “Gender Identity and Expression” policy or any derivative policy, and Moms for Liberty will dismiss the suit. The board had already repealed and replaced its entire policy manual and did not readopt the gender identity policy under the new manual.

The policy at the center of the lawsuit, Policy 5145.7, was adopted in January 2024 and was based on a New Jersey School Boards Association model policy. According to the complaint, Policy 5145.7 authorized school counselors to “assess whether, and to what extent, parents/guardians can be involved” if their child seeks to identify as the opposite sex while at school. It also allows students to enter opposite-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, and allows boys to compete in girls' sports. 

Additional aspects of the policy included requiring students to refer to their trans-identified peers by using opposite-sex pronouns or face accusations of “harassment, intimidation or bullying.” The complaint, filed Aug. 26, alleged that Policy 5145.7 violated the parental rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the First Amendment's Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses.

In addition to agreeing not to readopt Policy 5145.7, the school district has agreed to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court rulings Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor. Moms for Liberty filed the complaint on behalf of two parents who belong to the organization and reside in the district, as well as their children, after President Ann Ciccarelli declared at a June school board meeting that “the United States Supreme Court decision Mirabelli is not binding on public school districts in New Jersey.”

In Mirabelli, decided 6–3 in March, the Supreme Court held that school policies concealing a child’s gender transition from parents violate their rights under the First and 14th Amendments. In Mahmoud, decided in 2025, the court held that parents in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools had the right to opt their children out of lessons using LGBT-themed storybooks.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Thomas More Society, which represented Moms for Liberty in its litigation against the school district, praised the settlement.

“No school has the authority to transition a child behind his or her parents’ backs, and the Supreme Court made that unmistakably clear in Mirabelli. This board told New Jersey parents the ruling didn’t apply to them, kept its secret transition policy on the books, and forced families to go to court to protect their own children,” said Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Christopher Ferrara. “Now that policy is gone for good, every teacher and counselor in the district will receive a copy of the board’s written commitment to respect parents’ rights.”

Ferrara issued a warning to “districts that choose to still hide children’s gender transitions from their parents,” informing them that they can “follow the Chathams’ lead and change course now, or they can explain themselves to a federal judge.”

While Moms for Liberty CEO and co-founder Tina Descovich vowed that “Moms for Liberty will keep standing with parents in every district that tries to come between them and their children,” she also acknowledged the ordeal the parents who spoke out against the policy experienced.

“The parents behind this case endured doxxing and harassment simply for asking their school district to respect their role as their children’s primary educators,” she added. “Their perseverance has secured a promise that protects every family in the Chathams, and we hope school boards across the country take notice.”

As explained in the complaint, “The parents and the two students must remain anonymous due to the threats and harassment the parents have already experienced because of their opposition to the challenged policies, including repeated doxxing by fanatical ‘pro-trans’ ideologues who seek to incite violence against them, which required the posting of a police car outside their home.

“Parents A and B are practicing Christians who sincerely believe that God created only two genders, male and female, and that the concept of gender is divinely limited to the male and female sexes. As Christians, they believe it would be morally wrong to deny one’s God-given status as male or female and purport to be the opposite gender.

“They also believe that no public school has any right to interfere with the moral and religious formation of their children contrary to their religious beliefs against what they view as the immoral ideology of ‘transgenderism,’” the complaint stated. Parents A and B would oppose any purported “gender transition” by their children — under peer pressure, teacher influence, or otherwise — because they view such behavior as intrinsically disordered and contrary to God’s will.”