OAN Staff Addie Davis
1:32 PM – Sunday, August 9, 2026
A North Carolina father is suing the Cabarrus County school board over its refusal to disclose if members of the opposite biological sex are able to use his children's bathrooms or locker rooms at their respective schools.
On Friday, Brandon Matthews filed a suit against the county's education board, the superintendent of the county schools, as well as the principals of his children's schools.
"Because of his sincerely held religious beliefs and his convictions about what is best for his children's safety and well-being, Mr. Matthews seeks to ensure that his children are not required or expected to undress or use the restroom in the presence of members of the opposite sex," read the court document, which Fox News provided.
Matthews is the father of a fourth-grade daughter, who attends Mount Pleasant Elementary School, and a son, who is a high school senior at Mount Pleasant High School. In May, he asked the principals of both schools to inform him if a member of the opposite sex was permitted to use the same facilities as his children.
"But both principals refused to answer his questions, instead telling Mr. Matthews that he could contact them if and when one of his children found himself or herself in an uncomfortable situation," the court filing read. "But the Constitution does not require Mr. Matthews to wait."
The suit pulls on the 2025 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which the court found that schools must inform parents and give them an opportunity to excuse their children from instruction involving "LGBTQ+-inclusive" storybooks when it goes against their religious beliefs.
"If the Constitution requires notice and an opportunity to opt out before exposing children to certain storybooks, it necessarily protects a parent's right to receive notice and an opportunity to protect his children before they are expected or required to undress or use the restroom in the presence of members of the opposite sex," the suit read.
The document also asserted that Matthews is not seeking the identification of any student, but rather he wishes to know whether his children may be expected to share such facilities with a member of the opposite sex.
Brandon Matthews, a North Carolina father, is taking his children’s school district to court after officials allegedly declined to answer whether biological males can access the bathrooms used by his daughter.
— One America News (@OANN) August 9, 2026
His lawsuit seeks information about the district’s policies and… pic.twitter.com/PZkm6KAf7D
The principal of Mount Pleasant Elementary School, Alyn Szymański, responded on June 8th, saying that because "matters involving individual students are confidential," the school "cannot confirm, disclose, or provide advance notice regarding the status, identity, or accommodations of any particular student," per the filing. The other principal reportedly provided a similar response.
Matthews, whose case alleges the school district violated his constitutional rights under the First and 14th Amendments, is being represented by the America First Legal Foundation (AFL) and co-counsel Philip Thomas, per Fox News.
"Brandon Matthews does not currently know whether a male is using his fourth grade daughter's bathroom," Nicholas Barry, senior counsel at the AFL, told the outlet.
"And does he have a constitutional right to know that? We say 'yes,'" he said. "Without that information, he's just in the dark and…He really can't make any good decisions without that information."
The AFL is also involved in another lawsuit against Cabarrus County Schools, which alleges that female students at Cox Mill High School were required to share locker rooms, restrooms and changing spaces with a biological male.
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