Washington school district taught 10-year-old about sex change surgery despite opt-out request: lawsuit

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed the federal lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Konstantin Averkiev, a Christian father whose son attends Henry David Thoreau Elementary School. The district serves Kirkland and Redmond, east of Seattle.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, names the district, Superintendent Dr. Jon Holmen, and the district's five board members as defendants. Averkiev alleges violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

"Parents have the fundamental right to direct their children’s religious upbringing and education, even at school,” ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson said.

“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,” Anderson added.

According to the complaint, Averkiev met with his son's fourth-grade teacher in September 2025 and requested advance notice and an opt-out from lessons concerning LGBTQ topics, gender identity, or transgender issues because of his religious beliefs. The teacher allegedly agreed.

But in June, Averkiev says his son came home and told him his class had received a Pride Month lesson that included a discussion of “gender change” surgery. Averkiev said he received no advance notice.

When Averkiev contacted the teacher, the lawsuit alleges, the teacher said he remembered his opt-out request and admitted he “should have sent the lessons ahead of time.”

The teacher subsequently provided Averkiev with the Pride Month PowerPoint used for fourth- and fifth-grade students. According to the complaint, the slides discussed “romantic attraction to people of the same sex or gender,” people “whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth,” and the Stonewall uprising. Students were also presented with surveys concerning LGBTQ “belonging” at the school.

The lawsuit alleges that the slides themselves did not disclose that gender-change surgery would be discussed.

Averkiev emailed Principal Heidi Gilmore the next day, asking why his opt-out request had not been honored and seeking written confirmation that he would receive advance notice and a religious opt-out in the future. According to the lawsuit, Gilmore never responded.

Ahead of his son's fifth-grade year, Averkiev, through ADF attorneys, submitted a more detailed request seeking notice and opt-outs from LGBTQ-related lessons, assemblies, materials and activities. He also objected to school staff discussing LGBTQ topics individually with his son without permission, requiring his son to use pronouns inconsistent with biological sex, or requiring him to share intimate spaces with students of the opposite sex.

The district rejected nearly all the requests, according to the lawsuit. It granted opt-outs for sex education and surveys as required under Washington law but said that “any parental opt-out right is specifically limited to sex education and health instruction.”

The district allegedly characterized Averkiev's broader requests as “not feasible,” “practically impossible,” and in some instances “prohibited by state law.” It also stated that Washington law does not provide “a broad parental opt-out from LGBTQ+ topics that may arise in the ordinary course of education or instruction.”

According to the complaint, the district also said it would be “impractical” to prevent staff from having individual conversations with Averkiev's son about LGBTQ topics, including during counseling sessions, and warned that the child could face consequences for “discriminatory harassment” if he “misgender[s]” another student.

ADF argues the district's policies violate recent Supreme Court precedent, including Mahmoud v. Taylor, the 2025 case involving parents seeking religious opt-outs from LGBTQ-inclusive materials in Maryland public schools, and Mirabelli v. Bonta, a 2026 case involving school policies related to students' gender transitions.

Averkiev is asking the court to declare the district's no-opt-out policy unconstitutional as applied to him and require advance notice and opt-outs from LGBTQ-related instruction and requirements. He is also seeking damages, attorneys' fees, and costs.