A lawsuit filed by a Tennessee family, made public on Thursday, alleges that the Williamson County Board of Education and principal at Legacy Middle School violated Tennessee state laws by allowing a biologically male student who identified as a transgender female to participate in sexual education classes that were segregated by gender.
Filed by State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) on behalf of the plaintiffs, Greg O’Brien, Vicki O’Brien, as well as four anonymous parents, the lawsuit accuses the school board and middle school principal of violating both Tennessee’s 2023 law, T.C.A. 1-3-105, which defines “sex” as a person’s “immutable biological sex,” as well as the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act, which prohibits schools from allowing biological males to use girls’ restrooms.
“This case arises out of defendants’ intentional conduct in allowing a biological boy who ‘identifies’ as a girl to participate in an all-girls 7th grade Family Life, i.e. sex education, course,” on May 15, 2025, according to the lawsuit.
It further claims the biologically male student was allowed to participate despite school officials previously assuring parents, “that boys and girls would be segregated during the course,” and that more than a dozen students opted out of the class after the biological male was allowed to participate in the girls’ sexual education.
Specifically, the O’Briens claim that Principal Alicia Justice specifically contacted parents through email more than a month earlier to confirm, “Students will be separated by gender for the lessons.”
The lawsuit also alleged that the biologically female students experienced “distress and discomfort” after the biologically male student was included in a class designed to educate the girls about their reproductive organs, causing them to opt out of the second day of instruction, unless the male was removed from the course.
“Shockingly, the defendants allowed the boy to participate” again on the second day of instruction, the lawsuit alleges, “despite the distress and discomfort doing so had caused to more than a dozen 7th grade girls and their parents.”
The legal filing also contains portions of an email, allegedly exchanged between Justice and the O’Briens, which confirms the principal knew about the situation and persisted to allow the biologically male student to participate.
“You may opt out [redacted] if you choose to do so,” the principal wrote in a May 16 email, according to the lawsuit. “Please contact the counseling department if needed.”
It further alleges that the school “allowed a member of the opposite sex, a boy, to use multi-occupancy girls’ restrooms at Legacy,” and claimed that the plaintiffs personally witnessed this occur.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling which declares the school district and principal violated Tennessee law by allowing the male student to participate, and use exclusively female, multi-occupancy restrooms, and would prohibit the school from allowing biologically male students from participating in gender-segregated sexual education classes in the future.
Bulso is currently campaigning for the Republican nomination to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Legacy Middle School” by Legacy Middle School.
