First Liberty Institute and the National Center for Law & Policy settled a lawsuit against a California School District after district officials agreed to change their policies to allow parents and students to opt out of LGBTQ+ related material that conflicts with their religious beliefs.

In May 2024, a fifth-grade teacher at La Costa Heights Elementary School in Encinitas, California, read a book titled My Shadow is Pink, which is about a little boy’s gender identity. The book talks about how the boy sees his shadow as pink. The boy then wears a dress to school, and his father then changes his own beliefs and also puts on a dress.

Being a part of a “buddy” school mentoring program, some fifth-grade students were required to read this book with their kindergarten buddy and then ask their kindergarten buddies what color best represents them.

After discovering what had happened, many parents were concerned and requested advance notice and the opportunity to opt their children out of similar classroom activities in the future due to their religious beliefs conflicting with the classroom material.

The school district denied those requests.

Nate Kellum, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute, told The Center Square that the school district’s actions were unconstitutional because it “did not believe that parents needed to be involved,” Kellum said.

He said the parents were told they would not be allowed to opt out of the activity. Kellum also pointed to a California statute providing for notice and opt-outs in the context of health education.

According to Kellum, the district maintained that the statute did not apply because the activity was part of a peer mentoring program rather than health education.

The lawsuit resulted in a preliminary injunction, and the school district has settled because it saw “the writing on the wall,” according to Kellum, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which ultimately led the district to change its policies.

“I would say the bare minimum is it puts other school districts in California and outside of California on notice,” Kellum told The Center Square. “It's a warning that because things did not go well for Encinitas Union School District, I think it should cause other school districts to pause before going forward with anything like this.”

In June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor. The court recognized a constitutional protection for parents who object, for religious reasons, to certain public-school instruction involving materials that conflict with their religious beliefs.

The school district did not respond to an email from The Center Square requesting comment.