The U.S. Department of Justice announced Feb. 18 that it is investigating three Michigan school districts — including the Detroit Public Schools Community District — to determine whether they have included “sexual orientation and gender ideology” content in any of their classes without giving parents the opportunity to opt out their children.
The Lansing School District and the Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, located in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming, are also under investigation.
“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to ending the growing trend of local school authorities embedding sexuality and gender ideology in every aspect of public education,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the news release. “Supreme Court precedent is clear: parents have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children, which includes exempting them from ideological instruction which conflicts with their families’ sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Ryan Gilding, spokesman for the Lansing district, said, “We’re assessing what this means … and we’ll comment at a later date if appropriate.”
Lansing school board President Giullermo Lopez said he knew of no complaints from parents who wanted to opt out but were unable to do so.
Why the DOJ opened the investigation
Letters to the three districts cite a Nov. 13, 2025, Michigan Board of Education decision revising the Michigan Health Education Standards Guidelines “to require that school districts add instruction on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender diversity and gender expression to health and sex education curriculum.” The letter points out that “unlike sex education, health is a required class for graduation in the state of Michigan with no opportunity for parents to opt their children out of receiving instruction.”
The DOJ said in the letter that the revised standards could violate Title IX or a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Mahmoud v. Taylor, requiring districts to allow parents to opt out their children from classes with LGBTQ+ themes.
In 2025, U.S. Supreme Court ruled for a group of Maryland parents who wanted to opt their children out of English language arts curriculum with LBGTQ+ themes. Montgomery County Public Schools initially allowed opt-outs but later ended such accommodations because they threatened to cause “significant disruptions.” In the 6-3 decision, the court said the school district violated the parents’ First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion by not allowing them to opt out from having their children read books with LGBTQ+ themes at school.
When Michigan revised the standards, which are overarching guidelines for curricula, the Michigan Department of Education said in a news release that they “remain consistent with Michigan law by providing for local school districts to notify parents in advance of any sex ed instruction,” to allow for parents to opt out.
Guillermo said: The DOJ asks “if we’re complying with letting parents know they can opt out of certain classes and the answer is ‘yes.’ Parents are aware of it and they are made aware, also it’s on our website.”
What the DOJ wants from the districts
For its investigation, the Justice Department is requesting the districts produce numerous documents, including slideshows, presentations, imagery, posters, signage, recordings, handouts, notes, textbooks, library books that relate to “sex,” “human reproduction,” “human sexuality,” “genitalia,” “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” “gender diversity,” “gender spectrum,” “gender expression,” “gender fluidity,” “gender nonconformity,” “hormone blockers,” “puberty blockers,” “transitioning,” or “LGBTQIA+” in health or sex education, or any other class, for all grades pre-K-12 from Sept. 1, 2023, to present.
Letters sent to the school districts also said if its investigation determines the districts are violating Title IX, it will work to resolve the situation by “informal voluntary means.” They add: “If DOJ cannot secure compliance voluntarily, we may take formal action to secure compliance, which could involve suspending, terminating, or refusing to grant or continue (the districts’) federal financial assistance, as well as commencing a civil action.”
The percentage of federal monies that the Lansing, Detroit and Godfrey-Lee districts receive is higher than that of wealthier districts, said Peter Spadafore, executive director of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, an organization that works to help students in districts with the greatest needs by creating educational equity.
The justice department will also seek to determine whether the districts are limiting access to bathrooms and locker rooms based on the sex one is assigned at birth. “… Title IX demands that we guard the safety, dignity, and innocence of our youngest citizens — our children — by ensuring that they have unfettered access to bathrooms and locker rooms of their biological sex,” Dhillon said in the news release.
Trump has targeted transgender, nonbinary community
Since the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump has made the transgender and nonbinary community a target, building upon his campaign falsehood that children are receiving gender reassignment surgery at school. He signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government recognizes only genders assigned at birth, thereby rendering transgender people non-existent. He signed another threatening to withhold federal funding — including Medicaid and Medicare — to medical centers or hospitals that provide gender affirming care such as hormone therapies to young people under the age of 19, and an order threatening schools with a loss of federal funding if they allow transgender girls to participate in sports for girls; the government considers it a violation of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
USA Today contributed to this report.
Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com