By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

A national parental rights group has filed a lawsuit challenging an eastern Iowa school district’s policy for transgender students.

The lawsuit accuses the Linn-Mar School District of allowing children to make “fundamentally important decisions” about their gender identity “without any parental involvement.”

Linn-Mar students in 7th through 12th grades may use different names or pronouns at school and use the restroom that matches their gender identity and choose whether their parents are notified. Linn-Mar School Board members who adopted the policy in April said the plan follows federal guidelines for supporting transgender youth in school.

Parents Defending Education, the group that filed the lawsuit, is also alleging the district is violating the First Amendment by threatening to discipline classmates or school staff who refuse to call a student by their preferred pronouns or new name.