Williamson County Parents Sue School Board for Allegedly Allowing a Transgender Student to Participate in an All-Girls Sex Ed Class

Exterior of Legacy Middle School (Photo by Williamson County Schools)

A group of six parents has filed a lawsuit against the Williamson County School Board and a middle school principal in hopes of preventing the district from allowing transgender students to participate in sex ed classes that don’t match their biological sex.

The lawsuit stems from two seventh grade family life classes that occurred last May at Legacy Middle School in Franklin. The lawsuit alleges the school allowed a transgender girl to participate in a class that was promised to be segregated by sex.

Parents argue that allowance violates a 2023 state law that defines sex as a person’s “immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.”

“To say that defendants’ handling - or failure to handle – the situation was atrocious would be an understatement. Because defendants inexplicably prioritized allowing a male student to be present during an all-girls sex education class, more than a dozen seventh grade girls opted out of the May 16 class and, instead, were forced to waste their time sitting in the counselor’s office,” wrote attorney and State Representative Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, in the filing.

Bulso sponsored the legislation cited in the lawsuit that was filed on August 4 in Williamson County Chancery Court.

Neither school board members nor Superintendent Jason Golden addressed the lawsuit at Monday night’s meeting, but the board did take action related to another piece of legislation Representative Bulso co-sponsored.

DEI Removed from Hiring Policy

Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed the so-called “Dismantle DEI in Employment Act” to prevent school districts from utilizing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in hiring practices. Monday night, Williamson School Board members approved a policy change that deletes hiring diversity goals.

Before the vote, Cory Martin with anti-racism organization One Willco urged the district to find other ways to prioritize diversity.

“Educator Diversity matters, it matters for our children, our future, and for the strength of our schools,” said Martin. “The research shows that students of color benefit from same-race teachers through higher achievement, better attendance, and lower dropout risk.”

Superintendent Golden reassured the opponents of the new law that the district will still work to have a large hiring pool, even if it doesn’t have stated DEI policies.

“We will always hire the best person for the job. At the same time, we make sure that we continue to find opportunities to expand our recruiting and include as many candidates in our pool so that we have that large pool to choose from,” said Golden.