HISD settles federal lawsuit with Bellaire HS parents over student's pronoun use, court docs say

BELLAIRE, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Independent School District settled a federal lawsuit filed by two Bellaire High School parents, according to court documents. The parents sued the district for allegedly continuing to use their daughter's preferred pronouns despite their requests not to do so.

In the settlement, HISD agreed that district employees would only address the parent's daughter by her given name and by female pronouns.

Parents of the student sued HISD in federal court back in June, documents say. They claimed that when their daughter was a 14-year-old freshman, she brought home a theater class form asking for preferred pronouns.

The parents said they told staff to use "she" and "her" for their child. However, the lawsuit claimed that during her sophomore year, the family discovered schoolwork referring to their daughter by a masculine name.

The lawsuit alleged that for at least two school years, over half a dozen HISD employees referred to the parent's daughter as a boy without their notice or consent. The parents said the district did not comply with their instructions, despite repeatedly meeting with teachers and administrators about this, including Bellaire's principal.

"When they asked for documents to help them understand how widespread that practice was, the principal provided little information," the lawsuit reads.

The parents argued the district violated their parental rights and religious beliefs under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

According to the settlement filed Friday, the district will now instruct all Bellaire staff to address the student only by their given name, or a nickname based on it, and by female pronouns. As part of this agreement, the parents agreed to drop all claims. In the settlement, the district denied all allegations made in the lawsuit.

This case even drew attention from Governor Greg Abbott, who called for an investigation by the Texas Education Agency into Bellaire High School to determine whether teachers "inappropriately socially transitioned" a student against the wishes of the child's parents.

ABC13 reached out to the TEA for any update on this investigation, and we're waiting to hear back.