Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) in New Mexico faces a federal complaint for failing to address repeated reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by a male student identifying as female, creating an unsafe environment for girls and violating parental rights. Liberty Counsel filed the formal grievance with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on behalf of parents who withdrew their daughter from the district.
The complaint alleges SFPS illegally encourages secret gender transitions, enabling the boy’s misconduct against female students. Policies prioritize the desires of males over females, allowing access to private facilities like restrooms and locker rooms, which endanger girls and normalize inappropriate behavior. These practices amount to sex discrimination against females, breaching Title IX, students’ civil rights, and parental constitutional rights.
In January 2026, Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to SFPS requesting protections for all students, discipline for sexual misconduct, elimination of gender transition secrecy policies, and reinstatement of sex-based privacy restrictions. SFPS declined to make changes.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, stated: “The deliberate indifference by Santa Fe Public Schools toward sexual misconduct and the safety and wellbeing of female students violates Title IX and ignores morality and biological reality. A federal investigation is the next step toward correcting these unlawful actions to protect students. Parents should not have to withdraw a child from school over gender policies that violate federal law, endanger children, and usurp parental rights. SFPS should eliminate these policies immediately to protect children.”
The filing cites the 2025 Supreme Court ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor, affirming parental rights to remove children from conflicting instruction, and the 2026 decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, blocking gender secrecy policies as violations of due process.
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