A new federal lawsuit challenges the inclusivity policies of Denver Public Schools (DPS).

Nathan Feldman, a parent of two students at Slavens School, a K-8 school in DPS, wants at least $3 million dollars because the school has refused to add a “heterosexual pride” flag next to its rainbow pride flags.

The lawsuit claims that Feldman’s third graders’ constitutional rights are being deprived because the school has refused the requests for the additional flag.

He filed the lawsuit after repeated attempts to get the flag put on display after his children entered the third grade.

“There isn’t anything particularly about the pride flag that excludes or causes disparate treatment of people who don’t consider themselves part of the queer community,” Megan Bishop, a constitutional law attorney, said. “They’re already included. They’re not being marginalized by not having a ‘straight pride’ flag up there.”

Bishop pointed out that a public school is government funded and likely protected in this decision.

“Here, what the plaintiffs are trying to do is force a recognized government entity to engage in speech, when actually, the reality of the situation is, when it is a government entity, they’re allowed to pick the messages they want to convey as a public message,” Bishop said.

In 2020, the DPS School Board passed a resolution on “Inclusion for Our LGBTQIA+ Employees, Students and Community Members.”

Part of that resolution stated:

“…the District supports the right of its employees to post in their classrooms, offices, or halls a rainbow flag or other sign of support for LGBTQIA+ students or staff, because these are symbols consistent with the District’s equity-based curriculum…”

“The ‘straight pride’ movement, generally, was created like a counteroffensive to the LGBT movement, which then can cause those students who do identify as non-binary or queer to be distracted in their schoolwork,” Bishop said.

She said that the legal challenge would be different in the school were preventing the students from having a flag displayed on their backpacks, for example.

Since the rainbow pride flags are in support of a school district resolution, Bishop said the school is likely protected, and that the plaintiffs will not succeed.

“I don’t think that they’ll prevail. I think that they are conflating the difference between private speech and public speech, and that’s ultimately what it’s going to come down to,” Bishop said.

For more on this story, including a PDF of the full lawsuit, a video report and reaction from another parent at Slavens School, visit our news partners at 9NEWS.com.