FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—An Albuquerque social worker is speaking out after suing to block a school district policy, alleging that it violates her First Amendment rights by forcing her to lie to parents about their students’ gender identities.
“I’m a social worker. My job is to support … emotional development, mental health, decision-making processes that affect a student’s well-being, but also to support parents, community, and students; and advocate for the health and well-being of the family,” Jeanette Martinez, the plaintiff, told the Daily Signal in an interview Tuesday.
Yet Procedural Directive PJ30 directs Albuquerque Public Schools staff to adopt a child’s stated gender identity at school and hide that identity from parents—unless the child gives permission.
“When contacting the parent/guardian of a transgender student, school staff shall use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s gender assigned at birth unless the student or parent/legal guardian has specified otherwise,” the policy states.
In addition to the policy, the lawsuit cites an April 21 training, conducted for the school district by the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico. “You may be the one safe person at a school who’s using a kid’s pronouns, but if you don’t know whether the parents are cool with it or not, don’t call them that in front of their parents because it may be the only way to protect the safety at school,” the instructor stated.
‘A Wicked Presumption’
Mark Trammell, general counsel at the Center for American Liberty, which is representing Martinez, condemned gender secrecy policies.
“It’s a wicked presumption on behalf of schools,” he told the Daily Signal. “The presumption that parents are inherently abusive of their children, but that the state—the school—can do no wrong, and is all-knowing. It is a very socialist, it-takes-a-village type of approach, and it is so contrary to the Constitution.”
He said the policy “actually requires this conspiracy to lie to parents, and I think that compelled lie is so clearly unconstitutional.”
Martinez repeatedly sought a religious accommodation not to lie to parents.
“Never, ever was I told that I could be honest with parents,” she said.
“I’m being asked to go against my faith and what I believe is best for families and children,” Martinez said. “The parent should be the one providing the stability, the guidance, and the love.”
The social worker said that school officials told her, “If I was face-to-face with the student and the parent, then I was allowed to use the biological name only in front of the parent, so that the parent does not become aware that the student has transitioned.”
Martinez’s lawsuit claims that PJ30 violates the social worker’s free speech and religious freedom rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. It discriminates against her on the basis of her viewpoint, it compels her to speak in violation of her conscience, and it forces her to violate her religious beliefs. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare PJ30 unlawful, and to block it with a preliminary and permanent injunction.
“APS does not comment on pending litigation,” Martin Salazar, senior director of communications at the school district, told the Daily Signal. “We will address the allegations in court, using the appropriate process.”
The Daily Signal reached out to the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, and did not receive a response by publication time.
A 10-Year-Old Boy
Martinez told the Daily Signal that her concerns grew from an incident involving a 10-year-old boy.
She said the boy had previously been committed to a mental hospital and suffered multiple mental-health challenges, but wanted to use the girls’ restroom.
She said school officials began treating him like a girl “overnight” and planned a transgender identity presentation for his class.
Martinez faulted the school for being “just way too passive.”
“They have literally said if a student says they are not a male or a female—opposite of what they are biologically—that it’s not their job to mentally assess a student,” she recalled. “If they say that’s what they are, then that is exactly what they are.”
“What if that’s not the answer?” Martinez recalled asking.
Trammell, the attorney, cited recent Supreme Court precedent upholding parental rights.
In Mirabelli v. Bonta (2026), the Supreme Court upheld an injunction against California’s gender secrecy policy, which mandated that school staff hide a student’s claimed transgender identity from parents unless the student expressly consented to reveal it.
The Supreme Court only granted preliminary relief, rather than ruling on the merits, so some states have kept similar policies.
“It is really only a matter of time, I think, until the Supreme Court takes up these types of cases on the merits and provides what I think is much needed guidance to all 50 states,” Trammell said.
