Christian Legal Society, joined by the National Association of Evangelicals and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition for certiorari in Polk v. Montgomery County Public Schools. In this case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the denial of a preliminary injunction sought by Kimberly Polk, a substitute teacher who objected on free speech and free exercise grounds to the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools Guidelines for Student Gender Identity. The guidelines required her to use a student’s preferred pronouns, even when those pronouns are inconsistent with the student’s sex and keep secret from parents any information that their child identifies as the opposite sex at school, unless the child gives consent. Ms. Polk was willing to call her students by a preferred name and avoid using pronouns for students who identified as the opposite sex; however, she could not lie to a child by using a wrong-sex pronoun. Ms. Polk asked for a religious accommodation, but Montgomery County Public Schools refused. As a result, Ms. Polk was not allowed to substitute teach in Montgomery County during the following school years.
