A federal lawsuit targeting a New Jersey school district’s student privacy policy could have serious consequences for vulnerable young people, mental health experts and LGBTQ+ research organizations warn, as the case intensifies a national debate over parental rights, student safety and gender identity in schools.
Moms for Liberty, represented by the conservative legal organization Thomas More Society, filed suit Aug. 24 against the School District of the Chathams, challenging Policy 5145.7, which allows school staff to respect a transgender student’s chosen name and pronouns without automatically notifying the student’s parents.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Newark on behalf of two anonymous members of the organization and their two daughters, who attend elementary school in the Morris County district. Court records confirm the case was filed Aug. 24.
Moms for Liberty has become a prominent force in battles over how schools address race, sexuality and gender identity. Critics, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, have characterized the organization as extremist and accused its chapters of seeking to remove books and classroom materials dealing with LGBTQ+ people, race and discrimination.
The organization, which rejects such characterizations and claims to be protecting parental rights, gained attention through school-level disputes over COVID-19 safety measures, curricula, books, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. It has since become a prominent force in right-wing education politics and the broader U.S. antigovernment movement.
Research links acceptance to lower suicide risk
Research by The Trevor Project, a suicide-prevention organization serving LGBTQ+ young people, has repeatedly found an association between acceptance of transgender and nonbinary young people and lower rates of suicide attempts.
A December 2025 Trevor Project research brief found that transgender and nonbinary young people whose pronouns were respected reported lower rates of past-year suicide attempts — 11% compared with 17% among those who did not report pronoun respect.
After researchers controlled for demographic and other factors, pronoun respect was associated with 31% lower odds of a suicide attempt. Earlier Trevor Project research found that young people whose pronouns were respected by all or most people in their lives attempted suicide at about half the rate of those whose pronouns were not respected.
The organization’s 2025 national survey similarly found substantial disparities. Among transgender and nonbinary respondents, 18% of those who said none of the people they lived with respected their pronouns reported attempting suicide in the previous year, compared with 7% of those who said everyone they lived with respected their pronouns.
“LGBTQ+ youth experience these negative mental health outcomes not because of who they are, but because of how they are mistreated by others,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project. “When LGBTQ+ young people report they have welcoming and supportive communities, spaces, and people in their lives, their risk for attempting suicide lowers significantly.”
Data show both harms and supports in schools
National research paints a complex picture for transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive students, documenting the impact of both discrimination and the presence of supportive adults and environments.
The Trevor Project has consistently found that supportive school environments can serve as protective factors for LGBTQ+ young people. Its 2025 survey found that 85% of LGBTQ+ young people attending school reported having at least one adult there who was supportive and affirming of their LGBTQ+ identity.
The same survey found stark differences based on community acceptance. Six percent of LGBTQ+ young people living in communities they described as very accepting reported attempting suicide in the previous year, compared with 18% of those living in communities they described as very unaccepting.
Those findings do not establish that any single school policy causes or prevents suicide. They do, however, add to a body of research showing an association between supportive environments and better mental health outcomes for LGBTQ+ young people.
Medical organizations defend gender-affirming care
The lawsuit comes amid a broader national debate over restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for minors.
Major medical organizations have opposed government restrictions on such care, arguing that treatment decisions should generally be made by patients, families and health care professionals rather than lawmakers. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also emphasized that its guidance does not amount to a blanket recommendation for surgery for minors.
Research has examined whether access to affirming care and support can help transgender patients overcome barriers to treatment and reduce psychological distress among LGBTQ+ young people.
The Chatham lawsuit, however, primarily concerns school policy, parental notification and students’ gender identity at school rather than the provision of medical treatment.
District says policy is optional
The Chatham Board of Education has pushed back against characterizations of the policy and lawsuit, saying the district is not concealing information from parents.
Eight board members issued a signed statement saying Policy 5145.7 is an older model policy provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association and is not included in the district’s new policy catalog adopted at its Sept. 14 meeting.
“Chatham is not hiding information from parents, and our schools are not secretly making decisions about children behind their parents’ backs,” the board said.
Board member Michael Ryan said at the Sept. 14 meeting that board members and the superintendent had received death threats by email and telephone since the lawsuit was filed.
The board introduced the new policies at its July 13 meeting, before Moms for Liberty filed its lawsuit, and adopted them Sept. 14.
Legal dispute centers on Supreme Court ruling
The lawsuit relies heavily on Mirabelli v. Bonta, litigation involving California policies governing disclosure of students’ gender identities to parents.
At a June 15 board meeting, Board President Ann Ciccarelli said the decision “is not binding on public school districts in New Jersey” because it concerned an injunction involving California.
The district maintains that it must also comply with the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and state education guidance.
Christopher Ferrara, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, disputes the district’s interpretation.
“Supreme Court rulings on federal guidance on constitutional rights apply nationwide,” Ferrara said.
Moms for Liberty is asking the court to declare the Chatham policy unconstitutional and require parental notice and consent before certain actions involving a student’s social transition, including changes in names or pronouns, participation in sports based on gender identity and referrals to outside advocacy organizations.
The scandal-plagued neo-fascist organization describes the policy as improperly withholding information from parents.
The case places competing concerns over parental authority, student privacy and schools’ responsibilities toward transgender students before a federal court, while the broader debate continues over how schools should respond when a student’s gender identity at school differs from what has been disclosed at home.
Parents who remain oblivious to their own children’s sexual orientation or gender identity — and those who have failed to build the kind of loving, trusting relationship in which a child feels safe enough to share their authentic self — have no one to blame but themselves when they discover they never truly knew their own child at all.
Discover more from NJTODAY.NEWS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.