First Liberty Institute represented families whose fifth-grade children were forced to push gender ideology onto kindergartners.
Nate Kellum, senior counsel of First Liberty, explains the core issue.
“The issue is that we represent two families who have fifth graders in Encinitas Union School District (EUSD), and the school forced their fifth graders to indoctrinate kindergartners in gender ideology against their will and their conscience and their religion,” Kellum says.
The controversy began when a teacher read the book “My Shadow is Pink” during a mentoring session. Students were made to watch a video and help kindergartners color their shadows based on gender identity.
When parents asked for the right to opt out of future lessons, Kellum said the district refused.
He notes that challenging the school took immense courage from the families.
“In order to change this, you have to challenge it, and that is much to the credit of these two families because it took an amazing amount of courage. They received a lot of pushback from the community, from the school. They were villainized for challenging this policy, and they were falsely accused of being bigots and being hateful,” Kellum says.
Ultimately, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, which, combined with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Mahmoud v. Taylor), paved the way for victory.
The new settlement ensures parents in the district will receive proper notice and opt-out rights for controversial curriculum.
EUSD said they resolved litigation on September 14, 2026, and that their current policies were updated on August 19, 2025, to align with Mahmoud v. Taylor. They note this lawsuit came a year before their policy update.
“There are no winners when limited public education resources are diverted from classrooms to prolonged litigation,” said Marisa Janine-Page, co-counsel for the EUSD Defendants. “That is why the District chose to resolve this case, so it could put the litigation behind it and move forward focused on its students and its educational mission.”
However, according to the ESUD press release, the settlement “does not constitute an admission of liability or wrongdoing by EUSD or its employees.”
