DOJ investigating if schools are teaching LGBTQ+ people exist without letting parents opt-out

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation into three school districts over whether they are teaching any content about LGBTQ+ people and if religious parents are able to opt their children out.

In a news release published on Wednesday (18 February), the department announced it had begun investigations into three Michigan public school districts: the Detroit Public Schools Community District, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, and the Lansing School District.

The investigations will determine if LGBTQ+ content, which the department describes as ‘sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content’, is included in any classes for grades pre-K-12 and if the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out.

Further to this, the DOJ investigation will assess whether the three school districts restrict access to single-sex spaces based on ‘biological sex’.

“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to ending the growing trend of local school authorities embedding sexuality and gender ideology in every aspect of public education,” assistant attorney general Harmeet K. Dhillon, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said of the investigations.

“Supreme Court precedent is clear: parents have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children, which includes exempting them from ideological instruction which conflicts with their families’ sincerely held religious beliefs.

“And Title IX demands that we guard the safety, dignity, and innocence of our youngest citizens – our children – by ensuring that they have unfettered access to bathrooms and locker rooms of their biological sex.”

Title IX is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation that bans discrimination in education based on sex, in education programmes or activities that receive federal financial assistance, and is best-known for ensuring gender equality in college sports.

The Trump administration has asserted sex under Title IX refers solely to ‘biological sex’ and is being used to dismantle policies that support trans inclusion.

The investigations come after the 2025 Supreme Court decision in the case of Mahmoud vs Taylor, which ruled schools must allow religious parents to opt their children out of any content that acknowledges LGBTQ+ people are real.

The case was brought by a group of parents whose children attended Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in the state of Maryland.

In 2022, the school district introduced a number of LGBTQ+ focused storybooks, including Pride Puppy! and Uncle Bobby’s Wedding.

Initially Montgomery County Public Schools allowed parents to remove their children from lessons where the books were used, if they objected to the content, but this option was subsequently removed in 2023 as the school district said the policy was disruptive.

In response, several parents – including a Muslim couple and members of Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox churches – sued on religious grounds as they believed the decision to not allow them to remove their children infringed on their First Amendment freedoms.

The Supreme Court sided with the parents in a 6-3 decision handed down in June, with justice Samuel Alito writing in the majority opinion that the school district’s decision to restrict opt-outs placed an “unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion”.

Following the outcome of the case, Republican president Donald Trump labelled the verdict “a great ruling for parents” and “a tremendous victory”.

He claimed families had “lost control of the schools” and “lost control of their child” due to Biden administration policies on LGBTQ+ inclusion, adding: “We will give you back your parental rights. They were taken away.”

The 2025 Supreme Court decision came amid a raft of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders signed by Trump following his return to the White House for his second term.

Namely focused on removing trans people from public life, these orders have included proclaiming the official policy of the US is that there are “only two sexes”, banning transgender people from serving in the military, restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans youngsters under the age 19 and barring trans women and girls from female sports.

Trump’s executive orders have also included culling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes across the government and in the military.