A school district has decided to promote the leftist LGBT ideologies to captive students and has refused a father’s request that his son be opted out of the indoctrination.
School officials refused, and now are getting sued.
The federal lawsuit against the Lake Washington School District is on behalf of Konstantin Averkiev and is being handled by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
“Konstantin Averkiev is a Christian with sincere religious beliefs about sex, gender, and marriage that he seeks to instill in his young son, who attends an elementary school in the Lake Washington School District,” the ADF explained in a statement about the new fight.
The district runs schools in Kirkland and Redmond, east of Seattle.
The district runs LGBT “inclusive curricula” and requirements that conflict with Averkiev’s faith. He asked for opt-out procedures multiple times and was refused.
“Parents have the fundamental right to direct their children’s religious upbringing and education, even at school,” charged lawyer Kate Anderson. “Washington state officials can’t force parents like Mr. Averkiev to give up that right or accept a burden on their children’s religious upbringing in exchange for the benefit of public education. Our Constitution forbids schools from indoctrinating children with the government’s views on sexuality and gender—hotly debated and sensitive topics—that substantially undermine their religious upbringing.”
The case developed over several years of LGBT indoctrination in the public school.
“In 2025, when his son began fourth grade, Averkiev met with his son’s teacher and asked that his son be excused from all LGBTQ instruction based on his religious beliefs. The teacher agreed. Yet in June of this year, Averkiev discovered that his son received a Pride Month lesson that discussed gender-change surgery. Averkiev was given no notice or opportunity to opt his son out of this lesson. So he wrote the principal, but received no response,” ADF exlsined.
At the start of this year, Averkiev requested opt-outs for his son from LGBT-related instruction and requirements.
“The district rejected nearly all of his requests. The only opt-out the district granted—for sex-education curriculum and surveys—are required by state law,” the ADF said.
But the legal filing explains under the First and 14th Amendments, the father’s rights extend to every lesson or school requirement that would undermine the religious beliefs and practices he wishes to instill in his son.
“The district’s refusal to honor his request is unconstitutional,” the ADF said.
The 28-page federal complaint names as defendants the district as well as Jon Holmen, Lisa Guthrie, Lindsey Yocum, Aspen Richter, Eric Laliberte and Angela Meekhof, who all are officials within the district.
The case seeks a judicial declaration that the school’s “no-opt-out” practice violates the Constitution and injunctions against its enforcement.
It also seeks nominal and compensatory damages, presumed damages, and attorney fees.
It even asks the court to retain jurisdiction in the case “as necessary to enforce the court’s orders.”
“By violating Mr. Averkiev’s fundamental rights, defendants have irreparable harmed him and, absent an injunction, will continue to do so,” the filing warns.
The filing charges the school is subjecting the son to “LGBTQ+ instructions without parental notice or opt-outs, excludes the father from discussions about “consequential decisions,” coerces the son to “adopt and mouth the government’s viewpoint,” and forces the son to share intimate spaces with opposite-sex students or forgo “public benefits like overnight school trips.”
The Supreme Court, in Mahmoud and Mirabelli, already has “clearly” ruled that parents have a fundamental right to direct their children’s religious upbgrining and that schools cannot withhold noticed anc opt-out rights.
The case points out that the district actually is “defying” the Supreme Court.
