EXCLUSIVE: Group Demands School Board End ‘Unconstitutional Lawfare’ Against Member Who Opposed Child Sex Changes

The Frederick County Board of Education opened an allegedly “unconstitutional” investigation into a Republican board member after he voiced opposition to socially transitioning students within the school, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

The Maryland school board launched a Title IX investigation into Colt Black in January after he expressed concerns with a board policy which he claims violates the First Amendment by forcing students and staff to “participate in the social gender transition of students and requiring them to use pronouns and names that are inconsistent with a student’s sex,” according to a press release from ADF first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. ADF sent a letter to the board Tuesday demanding they end “unconstitutional lawfare” against Black.

Black spoke at a public board meeting stating his main concern was that the school board’s policy unconstitutionally “compelled speech” and was promptly met with calls to silence him. “I’m not sitting here saying that you can’t come to school and be who you are,” Black said at the meeting. “You should be able to do that. But at the same time, people should not have to be forced to participate with their language.”

The school board was heavily pressured by the Frederick County Democratic Central Committee, who released a statement condemning Black’s commentary at a school board meeting as “hate speech” and called on the community to submit complaints against Black in an attempt to silence him, ADF said.

“We write to insist that FCPS immediately halt the investigation against Mr. Black as it represents unconstitutional retaliation against Mr. Black for exercising his First Amendment rights,” ADF’s letter to the school board reads. “The investigation is thus nothing more than the product of a political vendetta that violates Mr. Black’s free speech rights. If the Board determines that Mr. Black’s speech somehow violated the Title IX Policy, then the application of the Policy is unconstitutional.”

“Students, teachers, and school board members have the constitutionally protected freedom to express their beliefs,” Tyson Langhofer, ADF senior counsel and director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, said in a statement. “The First Amendment prohibits the weaponization of the law to silence one’s political opponents. Colt is a democratically elected member of the Board. He cares about the integrity of his school district and the quality of education students receive, and he rightly observed that Policy 443 contains serious constitutional violations.”

Former President Joe Biden attempted to rewrite Title IX to include protections for gender identity, effectively forcing schools to allow boys into girls spaces and abide by whichever pronouns and names students requested. The rule was challenged by several states before being blocked in a federal court and eventually withdrawn.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has issued executive orders declaring federal recognition of only biological males and females, banning federally-funded sex changes for children and preventing men from competing in women’s sports. (RELATED: Biden’s Education Secretary Who Tried To Push Men Into Women’s Sports Says He Avoided ‘Culture Wars’ While In Office)

“Rather than take his concerns seriously, the Board caved to political pressure to punish him for his beliefs,” Langhofer continued. “We are urging the board to end its vindictive Title IX investigation. As we’ve recently seen elsewhere, there is a high cost for school districts that punish officials for their beliefs.”

The Frederick County Board of Education and Frederick County Democratic Central Committee did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

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