A veteran school social worker in Albuquerque has filed a federal lawsuit claiming her district ordered staff to conceal children's gender transitions from their own parents, and threatened her with discipline when she refused on religious grounds.
Jeanette Martinez, a licensed clinical social worker with more than a decade of experience, is suing Albuquerque Public Schools over what her complaint calls a "conspiracy to lie" to mothers and fathers who ask direct questions about their children. The Center for American Liberty filed the suit in federal court on September 17 on Martinez's behalf, alleging the district's policy violates her First Amendment rights to free speech and religious freedom.
At the center of the dispute is APS Procedural Directive PJ30. The policy tells staff to use a student's preferred name and pronouns on internal records, documents, and day-to-day interactions at school. But when speaking with parents, staff must default to the child's legal name and birth-assigned pronoun, unless the student or parent says otherwise. In practice, Martinez argues, that two-track system forces employees to actively hide a child's social transition from the people most responsible for that child's well-being.
Martinez, who supports special-education students at Atrisco Heritage Academy High School in Albuquerque, described one incident that crystallized her objections. As Fox News Digital reported, she witnessed a student verbally express a desire to identify as the opposite sex, and watched school staff act on it almost immediately.
"There was an incident that I was present for where, within two hours, a student verbally decided he was male and wanted to be female. Within that meeting, a school team decided right then that because he expressed wanting to be the opposite sex, they would go ahead and choose his new name as the opposite sex."
Martinez added that staff in the same meeting mapped out how to introduce the student's new name to classmates. No mention was made of notifying the child's parents.
For a licensed mental health professional, the speed of the process was alarming. Martinez told Fox News Digital that concealing that kind of information from families runs directly counter to her professional obligations and her Christian faith.
"My job as a social worker is to bring the family together, not to tear them apart. To sit there in a parent-teacher conference and try to articulate issues as a mental health provider while participating in that deception is not in the best interest of the student or the family."
She did not hold back about the policy's effect: "It's damaging. It's horrible. It doesn't work. It's unimaginable, to be honest."
Martinez did not go straight to a lawsuit. In April, she submitted a formal request for a religious accommodation, asking the district to let her communicate truthfully with parents without violating Procedural Directive PJ30. She describes herself as a practicing Christian whose faith prohibits lying or intentionally concealing the truth. APS denied the request.
The lawsuit contends that Martinez now faces internal investigation, disciplinary action, or potential termination if she refuses to comply with the directive. The complaint frames that threat as a direct chill on her constitutional rights, punishing her for declining to participate in what the filing calls a coordinated deception of parents.
APS spokesperson Martin Salazar offered a brief response, telling Fox News Digital that the district does not comment on pending litigation.
"We will address the allegations in court, using the appropriate process."
District guidance, as described in the reporting, states the policy is intended to "foster a safe learning environment and protect student privacy." That framing sets up the core legal tension: whether a school district's interest in shielding a minor's self-declared gender identity can override a parent's right to know what is happening with their own child, and whether it can force employees to be the instrument of that concealment.
Procedural Directive PJ30 creates a split reality inside APS schools. Inside the building, staff use whatever name and pronouns a student requests. Outside the building, in conversations with the adults legally responsible for that student, staff revert to the child's legal identity. The directive does not require parental consent or even parental notification before the internal switch takes effect.
That structure places school employees in an extraordinary position. A social worker sitting in a parent-teacher conference must discuss a child's mental health and academic progress while deliberately withholding information about a significant identity change the school has already recognized and acted on. Martinez's lawsuit argues that no public employee should be compelled to maintain that kind of deception as a condition of keeping her job.
The case also raises questions about how quickly schools are moving on these decisions. Martinez's account of a student's transition being formalized in a single two-hour meeting, complete with a new name and a plan for introducing it to peers, suggests a process with little room for reflection, professional evaluation, or family involvement. Whether that speed reflects district-wide practice or an isolated case is not clear from the available record.
APS is far from the only school district to adopt policies like this. Similar directives have drawn legal challenges and legislative pushback across the country, as parents and employees argue that schools are inserting themselves between children and families on deeply personal matters. Martinez's lawsuit, filed by the Center for American Liberty, adds another front to that broader fight.
The district says it will answer in court. Martinez says she already tried the internal route and was turned away. What remains is a straightforward question: can a public school district force its employees to lie to parents and call it protecting children?
Parents who are kept in the dark cannot help their kids. A policy that treats mothers and fathers as the threat has its priorities exactly backward.
