NC school gets backlash over transgender teacher. Board member defends hire

T. Keung Hui, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Jul 31, 2026

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RALEIGH, N.C. — A Wake County elementary school is under fire from conservative groups for hiring a transgender teacher.

In posts on multiple social media platforms Thursday night, Libs of TikTok said Middle Creek Elementary School in Apex has a new “nonbinary” teacher and “students reportedly have to call him Ms.” The far-right social media account included a photo of the teacher wearing a dress and urged people to contact Sarah Stephens, the school’s principal.

By noon Friday, the Libs of TikTok post on X had 295,000 views, 3,000 reposts and 6,500 likes. The post on Facebook had more than 2,000 likes and 2,400 comments.

“We should not confuse children or expose them to unhealthy ideas at school,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, said in a statement Friday.

Fitzgerald’s statement added that “this will surely cause mass exodus from the school.”

Board member: Parents should welcome a qualified educator

Libs of TikTok linked on X to a post from conservative blogger Cassie Clark, who named the teacher.

The News & Observer is not naming the teacher. Stephens and the teacher did not immediately respond to emails from the N&O requesting comment.

The Wake County school system declined comment Friday. But school board member Lynn Edmonds has defended the teacher in response to parents questioning the hiring decision.

“I have every confidence Dr. Stephens followed appropriate hiring procedure, and therefore, this teacher is qualified to teach in WCPSS,” Edmonds said in her replies to parents. “I hope families and staff see this as an opportunity to learn about and discuss the diverse world we live in while welcoming a qualified educator to Middle Creek ES.”

Clark, who published Edmonds’ reply on X, called the school board member’s response “pretentious, condescending, belittling, dismissive.”

Age inappropriate for elementary schools?

The situation first got public attention earlier in the week when Republican state Rep. Erin Paré posted about “the hiring of a transgender biological male, who dresses as a woman ... in one of our local elementary schools.”

Paré said she was considering filing legislation requiring “gender-appropriate professional attire for public school employees.” The proposal was called unconstitutional by the ACLU of North Carolina and LGBTQ+ rights groups.

After her initial posts, Paré said Wednesday on Facebook that she had received a death threat for speaking out about the issue.

“Thank you for your messages of support for our local elementary school children, parents and teachers,” Paré said in a Facebook post Friday. “I’ve received a lot of good constructive ideas from you about how we can protect elementary school children from exposure to more age-inappropriate complex adult topics of gender-identity in our public schools when they are clearly too young for it.”

Laws and executive orders targeting trans community

The Wake situation comes at a time when the Trump administration has been launching a campaign to roll back rights for transgender people. President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government only recognizes two genders, male and female.

In another executive order, Trump has threatened to remove federal education funding from K-12 schools and universities that promote “gender ideology.”

The Trump administration has launched multiple federal civil rights investigations against school districts, including in North Carolina in Buncombe and Cabarrus counties, for allowing transgender students to use the school restroom that matches their gender identity.

Republican state lawmakers cited Trump’s order behind a new state law that went into effect on Jan. 1 that says North Carolina officially recognizes only two sexes, The N&O previously reported.

GOP lawmakers have passed several other state laws affecting the transgender community, including restricting participation in school sports teams, banning gender-affirming care for minors and requiring schools to notify parents if their children change their name or pronouns.

Past viral photo of teacher in tutu

In 2024, a photo of a male Wake County middle school teacher wearing a tutu at school went viral on social media. The local chapter of Moms for Liberty called it “perverse” and tagged Libs of TikTok, which reposted the photo and urged people to contact the school district.

The teacher had worn the tutu as part of Martin Middle School’s Spirit Week activities the year before. Most of the speakers who attended a school board meeting after the photo went viral defended the teacher.

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