GSA Network v. Morath
Transgender Law Center (TLC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, and Baker McKenzie filed a lawsuit challenging key aspects of Texas Senate Bill 12 (S.B. 12) on behalf of the GSA Network, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), a Texas teacher, Polly Poe , and an individual student, Rebecca Roe, by way her parent in GSA Network v. Morath.
The Plaintiffs challenge four main provisions of S.B. 12 (the Student Identity Censorship Law): its GSA ban, its inclusivity ban, its social transition ban, and its don’t say LGBTQ+ ban, as unconstitutional violations of their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the federal Equal Access Act. By bringing this case, Plaintiffs are fighting to make Texas schools a safe place for all students regardless of race, gender, and background, to learn and thrive. Plaintiffs, who are non-profit organizations that are a student – led and support students, a high school student and her parent, and a teacher, are all impacted by the Student Identity Censorship Law.
GSA Ban
S.B. 12’s GSA Ban singles out and entirely bans student clubs such as Genders and Sexualities Alliances (formerly known as Gay-Straight Alliances, GSAs) by prohibiting Texas school districts and charter schools from clubs “based on sexual orientation or gender identity” S.B. 12 § 27, which serve as important space for trans, queer and allied students to find support and community.
Inclusivity Ban
Plaintiffs challenge the Inclusivity Ban, which prohibits school employees, contractors, and volunteers from “developing or implementing policies, procedures, trainings, activities, or programs that reference race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.” S.B. 12 § 3. This bans programs and discussions relating to race, gender identity, and sexual orientation in all public and charter schools in Texas from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. It eliminates a wide range of activities that foster inclusion and promote equal opportunity, including events celebrating Black, Latine, Asian, and Indigenous history; staff trainings regarding cultural awareness and inclusion; and critical conversations between students, parents, and educators about topics relating to race, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Social Transition Ban
The Social Transition Ban of S.B. 12 threaten the safety and privacy of transgender and nonbinary students in Texas schools by making it much more difficult for educators to support them. S.B. 12 requires every school district to “adopt a policy prohibiting an employee of the district from assisting a student enrolled in the district with social transitioning, including by providing any information about social transitioning or providing guidelines intended to assist a person with social transitioning.” S.B. § 7(a).
Don’t Say LGBTQ+ Provision
Additionally, S.B. 12’s Don’t Say LGBTQ+ provision prevents students from receiving information about gender identity or sexual orientation in every grade level, by prohibiting school employees, volunteers and contractors from providing: “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade.” S.B. 12 § 24(a). The law’s restrictions apply not just to classroom learning, but to after-school programs, field trips, and informal guidance provided by parents, volunteers, and school employees.
All four of these challenged provisions infringe upon the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution of the Plaintiffs. The First Amendment does not permit politicians to wholesale ban unpopular political viewpoints from extra-curricular activities simply because they do not like them. It also protects Plaintiffs Rebecca Roe, GSA Network, and SEAT’s rights to receive information on topics of race, gender and sexual orientation in such programs, and to form student groups around those identities. S.B. 12 infringes on Plaintiff, Polly Poe’s free speech rights by prohibiting her as a school employee from discussing these topics with students even outside of school activities and when she is off the clock. All four of the challenged provisions of S.B. 12 fail to provide adequate guidance about what conduct is prohibited, inviting arbitrary enforcement. This violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibitions against laws that are so vague that impacted parties, like Plaintiffs, do not have adequate notice about what conduct would violate law. The GSA Ban also violates GSA Network and Rebecca Roe’s rights under Equal Access Act, which prohibits schools that receive federal funding from treating student clubs differently “on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech.” 20 U.S.C. § 4071(a).
TLC and its partners filed a complaint and emergency motion for preliminary injunction on August 28, 2025. The motion seeks to block the enforcement of unconstitutional aspects of the law which is set to take effect September 1, 2025 while this case makes its way through the courts.
footnotes
[1] “Polly Poe” is a pseudonym to protect her real identity.
[2] “Rebecca Roe” is a pseudonym to protect her real identity.