Federal judge orders Pentagon to reinstate LGBTQ+ inclusive books in military schools

A federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon must restore LGBTQ+ inclusive books and lessons on race, gender, and diversity in schools serving military families. Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles issued the order, emphasizing that the previous restrictions likely violated students' First Amendment rights.

The ruling, delivered in Alexandria, Virginia, requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity) Director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez to comply immediately.

Judge Giles' 44-page opinion concluded that the Department of Defense Education Activity's removal of books and alteration of curricula suppressed certain viewpoints and deprived students of access to ideas about race and gender. Advocate reports that she found the department's actions caused real harm and were likely motivated by viewpoint discrimination. The ruling mandates the immediate return of the banned books and prohibits further removals while the case proceeds.

The case, E.K. v. Department of Defense Education Activity, was brought by 12 students from military families attending DoDEA schools in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Virginia, and the ACLU of Kentucky, the lawsuit challenged the agency’s enforcement of three Trump executive orders issued in January that directed federal institutions to remove references to “gender ideology” and “divisive equity concepts.”

Judge Giles emphasized the importance of public school libraries as "loci of intellectual freedom," quoting the Supreme Court’s 1982 decision in Board of Education v. Pico, which affirmed students' right to "inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding." She criticized DoDEA's opaque and inconsistent process for removing books, noting the lack of clear records indicating which titles had been withdrawn or the reasons for their removal. The judge also condemned the department's refusal to disclose information about the censorship campaign, stating that it was unconstitutional to limit access to information and then fault the plaintiffs for lacking proof of the government’s actions.

The ruling rejected the Pentagon’s argument that the removals constituted "government speech," a legal doctrine that protects official communications from First Amendment scrutiny. Judge Giles asserted that viewing school libraries as expressions of government ideology contradicts their long-standing purpose as spaces for academic freedom and voluntary inquiry. She cautioned that expanding the government speech doctrine to cover book removals in public schools would pose "dangerous" risks to intellectual freedom.

DoDEA operates 161 accredited schools across 11 countries, seven U.S. states, Guam, and Puerto Rico, educating approximately 67,000 children of active-duty service members and civilian Defense Department employees. The system is known for its diversity and high performance, consistently ranking near the top of U.S. public school systems in reading and math proficiency.

Following Trump’s executive orders, DoDEA began removing materials, instructing school administrators to "quarantine" any books or lessons that could be seen as promoting "gender ideology" or "discriminatory equity ideology." The removals included books and curricula addressing slavery, women’s rights, Native American history, LGBTQ+ identities, and sexual health education, as well as sections of the Advanced Placement Psychology course.