Plaintiff alleges that she was unlawfully denied a religious accommodation by Defendant (Montgomery County Public Schools - MCPS) when she objected to Defendant's Guidelines for Student Gender Identity. According to Plaintiff, these guidelines required her as a substitute teacher to assist children as young as three years old to "transition genders at school and to hide this transitioning from the child's parents if MCPS officials believe the parents might not be 'supportive' of the transition." Under the guidelines, teachers also had to refer to students by their preferred pronouns. Plaintiff refused to affirm and follow the guidelines because they allegedly required her to act and speak in a manner that conflicts with her Christian beliefs. Plaintiff has not been able to teach at MCPS during the 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school years due to not receiving a religious accommodation to the guidelines.

On May 29 2024, Plaintiff filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to limit her substitute teaching to elementary classrooms with no transitioning students in them. She additionally requested that she be able to obtain assistance from other MCPS personnel immediately if she has to engage with a "transitioning student in a way that would violate her religious beliefs."

On July 3, 2024, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss and opposition to the preliminary injunction. Defendants stated that Plaintiff failed to state a free speech claim since the challenged speech is part of her job and not protected, and it's not a matter of public concern. Defendants also argued that Plaintiff is unlikely to succeed on the merits of her free exercise claim since the guidelines do not infringe on her free exercise rights. Even if the guidelines are incidentally burdensome to Plaintiff's religious practice, Defendant asserts that they are generally applicable and neutral. As to the preliminary injunction, Defendant argues that Plaintiff delayed too long and failed to establish entitlement to it for the reasons above regarding her free speech claims.

On January 17, 2025. the court granted Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's free exercise and free speech claims, but denied Defendant's motion to dismiss the Title VII claims. The court also denied Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction.

On February 7, 2025, Plaintiff appealed the court's decision to deny her motion for a preliminary injunction.

On January 28, 2026, the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's decision.

On February 10, 2026, Plaintiff alerted Defendants that she planned to file a petition to the Supreme Court so that the case could be considered there.

On February 17, 2026, Plaintiff and Defendants moved to stay this case until the U.S. Supreme Court has made a decision on whether or not to hear the case.

On February 20, 2026, the court granted the motion to continue the stay on the case until the U.S. Supreme Court has made a decision on whether or not to hear the case.