Washington father sues school district for denying religious opt-out for 5th grader from LGBTQ instruction
EXCLUSIVE — A Washington father is suing his son’s public school district after he said his 10-year-old was taught about gender surgery during a Pride Month lesson despite the Christian parent previously asking the school to excuse his child from LGBTQ-related instruction.
On Tuesday, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the father, Konstantin Averkiev, filed a federal lawsuit against Lake Washington School District, alleging officials violated Averkiev’s First and 14th Amendment rights by refusing to provide notice and allow his son to opt out of LGBTQ-related lessons and other school requirements that conflict with his religious beliefs.
The dispute began after Averkiev said he met with his son’s fourth-grade teacher at Henry David Thoreau Elementary School in September 2025 and requested advance notice and an opt-out from lessons involving LGBTQ topics, gender identity or gender transition.
According to the complaint, the teacher agreed, but Averkiev subsequently found out his son had been taught a June Pride Month lesson that allegedly included a classroom discussion of gender-change surgery.
The teacher then said he remembered Averkiev’s request and told him he "should have sent the lessons ahead of time," according to messages cited in the lawsuit. However, Averkiev said that the district later rejected nearly all of his broader opt-out requests as his son prepared to enter fifth grade.
The Pride Month presentation, taught to fourth and fifth-grade students, described same-sex attraction, transgender identity and the Stonewall uprising, a series of protests from people who identified as LGBTQ+ against a police raid on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village, according to materials cited in the complaint.
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Averkiev also alleged the classroom discussion went further than just the slides. His son told him the class had discussed gender-change surgery, meaning the father argues he would not have known the subject was coming even if the school had provided him the presentation in advance.
With his son starting fifth grade, Averkiev, with the help of ADF attorneys, asked the district to excuse his son from LGBTQ-related instruction and requirements, including individual counseling sessions and the use of pronouns that conflict with his religious beliefs, according to ADF.
ADF said the district rejected nearly all of Averkiev’s requests, granting only opt-outs for sex-education curriculum and health surveys, which the legal group noted are already required under Washington state law.
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But the legal group maintains that Averkiev’s rights are protected under the First and 14th Amendments, and "extend to every lesson or government-school requirement on his son that would ‘undermin[e] the religious beliefs and practices’ Mr. Averkiev wishes to instill in his son," according to the lawsuit.
"Parents have the fundamental right to direct their children’s religious upbringing and education, even at school," Kate Anderson, ADF senior counsel and director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, said in a statement. "Washington state officials can’t force parents like Mr. Averkiev to give up that right or accept a burden on their children’s religious upbringing in exchange for the benefit of public education."
"Our Constitution forbids schools from indoctrinating children with the government’s views on sexuality and gender — hotly debated and sensitive topics — that substantially undermine their religious upbringing," she added.
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Averkiev said, "As a parent, I have a right to decide what my son learns about sex and gender at school. He's ten years old. I don't want him to learn about gender-change surgery and using false pronouns."
"I have repeatedly asked to opt my son out of the school district's LGBTQ instruction. But the district has refused. I am filing this lawsuit, so schools cannot ignore parents like me," he added.
Lake Washington School District declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital, but said that it follows "all applicable federal and state laws and guidance from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction."