A Christian father in Washington state is suing his son's public school district, alleging officials refused to let his 10-year-old opt out of LGBTQ-related lessons despite his earlier request, and that the boy was subsequently taught about gender-change surgery during a Pride Month lesson. The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of Konstantin Averkiev against Lake Washington School District, claims this breached his First and 14th Amendment rights to direct his child's religious upbringing, and highlights a wider dispute over parental opt-out rights in public schools amid ongoing debates about how gender and sexuality topics are taught to young children.

Averkiev says he asked his son's teacher at Henry David Thoreau Elementary School in September 2025 for advance notice of, and an opt-out from, lessons on LGBTQ topics, gender identity or transition, and that the teacher agreed. He later discovered a June Pride Month lesson, taught to fourth and fifth-graders and covering same-sex attraction, transgender identity and the Stonewall uprising, had included discussion of gender-change surgery. When Averkiev sought broader opt-outs ahead of his son entering fifth grade — covering LGBTQ instruction, counselling sessions and preferred pronoun use — the district granted only exemptions from sex education and health surveys, which are already required under state law; ADF argues the Constitution bars schools from indoctrinating children on sexuality and gender in ways that undermine their religious upbringing.