A California district court has issued an injunction allowing parents to remove their children from classes related to gender identity. The case arose from a dispute between a school board and parents in a suburb of San Diego and ultimately wound up in court.

In May 2024, La Costa Heights Elementary School’s „Buddy” program chose to delve into gender ideology but did not allow parents to opt their children out of the sessions.

Carlos and Jenny Encinas have two sons who attended the La Costa Heights school, part of the Encinitas Union School District in Southern California. In May 2024, their fifth-grade son’s teacher read to the class the book My Shadow is Pink, which encourages children to question their own gender identity. Usually, students choose the books to be read, and parents receive weekly notifications about the reading material. This time, however, no such notice was sent.

After the reading, the boys were required to watch a video of the book being read aloud, together with kindergarteners, as part of the school’s mentoring program. Then, they were asked to draw their own “shadow” using a color that represented their personality.

School Rejected Parents’ Requests

The book My Shadow is Pink tells the story of a boy who sees his shadow as pink instead of blue and promotes the idea that children can change their gender. It encourages them to discover the color of their shadow, which symbolizes their „inner self.” In the story, the boy learns to be true to himself and chooses to wear a dress on his first day of school. His father, who initially reacts with “anxiety and stress,” eventually changes his mind and also puts on a dress. He emboldens his son to continue wearing a dress to school and declares that if anyone has a problem with it, “they’re the fool.”

The Encinas’s fifth-grade son, who is a devout Christian, felt extremely uncomfortable being forced to attend a lesson promoting ideas contrary to his beliefs.

Carlos, the father, submitted two requests to the school: to be notified when sensitive topics were being discussed and to allow his children to opt out of such lessons. Both requests were denied. The Encinas family and other parents raised their concerns with the Encinitas Union School District Board, but the issue was ignored.

“Everyone can read a book and draw different lessons from it, but we as parents want our children to decide what they read. Does it align with our values, our faith, what we want for our kids?”

said Christian Ryan, whose child also attends the affected school.

Parents Who Spoke Out Faced Ostracism and Threats

In September 2024, the First Liberty Institute and the National Center for Law & Policy filed a complaint and a motion for a preliminary injunction on behalf of the Encinas and another family. According to the filing, after Carlos raised his concerns, district staff and other parents behaved with hostility toward him and his family.

The president of the parent-teacher association even organized a “Pink Out the Hate Day,” during which half the school wore pink to show support for transgender rights.

The Encinas family received verbal threats and harassing phone calls. Carlos endured so much harassment that his parents were forced to transfer him to a different school. As Brett Murphy, a media commentator covering the story, noted: “It seems the slogan ‘No place for hate,’ which woke activists love to repeat, doesn’t apply to people of Christian faith.”

CA District Court Judge Issues a Preliminary Injunction Giving Parents a Gender Indoctrination Opt-Out https://t.co/oVvCNOmg7e

— Brett Murphy (@brettmurphyx) May 14, 2025

Court Sides with Parents

The complaint reached the federal court of the Southern District of California, where the judge ruled in favor of the parents. In the preliminary injunction, the court ordered the district school to notify parents about gender identity content in the Buddy program curriculum and ruled that parents must be given the opportunity to opt their children out of such instruction.

“We’re grateful for the court’s decision,”

said Nate Kellum, attorney for the family, adding: “We will continue to fight to ensure elementary school children aren’t forced into gender identity lessons that violate their faith.”

Although the lawsuit is still in its early stages, experts say it’s significant that a California judge acted in defense of parental rights and religious freedom, stressing that such a ruling could signal the end of gender ideology education in schools and intervention in children’s gender development.