FAIRFIELD, NJ -Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Moms for Liberty against the School District of the Chathams Board of Education, challenging the district's Policy 5145.7, which allows school staff to conceal a student's "gender transition" from parents and compels use of the student’s “preferred pronouns” and “gender identity,” including any new name the child gives themselves—all without parental notice or consent.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, comes after the district refused to rescind or amend the policy despite being notified of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor, which recognized that public schools cannot adopt policies that substantially interfere with parents' constitutional right to guide the religious and moral upbringing of their children under both the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“When Thomas More Society prevailed at the Supreme Court, we made a promise: any school board or district that kept hiding a child's so-called ‘gender transition’ from parents, or that punished kids for refusing to bow down to an ideology they don't believe, would be held accountable,” said Christopher Ferrara, Senior Counsel at Thomas More Society.

According to the Verified Complaint, Chathams Board of Education President, Ann Ciccarelli told the public at a June 15, 2026 board meeting that "the United States Supreme Court decision, Mirabelli, is not binding on public school districts in New Jersey." A position the complaint alleges is legally false and reflects the district's open defiance of controlling precedent.

The suit alleges that Policy 5145.7 violates the First Amendment's Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses and the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause by:

• Permitting school counselors, in their sole discretion, to withhold a student's asserted "gender transition" from parents;
• Permitting mixed-sex participation in sports, locker rooms, and changing facilities based solely on a student’s self-declared gender identity, without advance notice to parents.
• Compelling students and parents to use a classmate's chosen name and pronouns, on pain of discipline for "harassment, intimidation, or bullying," including for speech occurring off campus;
• Allowing students to be referred to outside “pro-LGBTQ” advocacy organizations without parental notice or consent.

Moms for Liberty is asking the court to declare Policy 5145.7 unconstitutional and to enjoin its enforcement unless the district amends it to require parental notice and consent before any social transition, name or pronoun change, mixed-sex sports or use of facilities, or referral to outside advocacy groups.

“Parents are the primary educators and caregivers of their children, not school boards, not counselors, and not ideologues pushing secret gender transitions behind closed doors. The Chathams Board of Education’s open defiance of the Supreme Court’s clear rulings in Mirabelli and Mahmoud is an assault on the constitutional rights of every family in that district. Moms for Liberty will not stand by while schools hide life-altering decisions from parents or persuade children to affirm an ideology that violates their conscience and faith. We are proud to partner with the Thomas More Society to defend parental rights in New Jersey and across America,” said Tina Descovich, CEO & Co-Founder, Moms for Liberty

“The Chathams Board of Education had every opportunity to fix this policy. Instead, its own president stood up at a public meeting and told parents that Supreme Court precedent simply doesn't apply to them. That is not a legal argument; it is defiance of the law of the land. And we intend to hold this district accountable in federal court," added Ferrara.

Thomas More Society represented the prevailing parties in Mirabelli v. Bonta, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that public school policies fostering secret gender transitions of students substantially interfere with parents' constitutional right to direct their children's religious upbringing.

Read the verified complaint Moms for Liberty v. School District of the Chathams Board of Education, et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, here.