Court Sides with Teachers Fired for Opposing ‘Trans’ School Guidance
A federal appellate court has sided with two teachers fired for opposing their district’s policy forcing radical gender ideology on employees.
Rachel Sager and Katie Medart worked at North Middle School In Oregon’s Grants Pass School District No. 7. Medart started teaching science and health at the school in 2019, while Sager began serving as the school’s assistant principal in July 2020.
In February 2021, the school district circulated “Gender Identity, Transgender, Name, and Pronoun Guidance,” an administrative memorandum, after the Oregon Department of Education issued guidance on “creating a safe and supportive school environment for transgender students.”
The memorandum recommends district employees “accept a student’[s] assertion of his/her/their own gender identity.” It also directs district employees to “ensure that appropriate accommodations are made” when a student approaches them to “request a change in gender, pronouns or names.”
The district also allows students to access restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated facilities based on their “preferred gender identity,” the memorandum states.
Furthermore, the directive encouraged district employees to allow students and other employees to use a student’s “preferred name or pronoun,” even if their parents “do not consent to a formal change of gender, name or pronoun.”
In response, Sager and Medart launched the “I Resolve” movement offering “alternative proposals regarding students’ preferred pronouns and names as well as restroom use.” Sager met with Human Resources Director Huber-Kantola, showing him copies of a draft resolution for their movement. Sager also told Superintendent Kolb that she and Medart planned to “inform the public on this matter of public concern” and “lobby legislators regarding [their] proposed solution.”
Initially, the two received a positive response, and Kolb said he would consider bringing the resolution to the district’s school board.
But the two quickly faced complaints from other staff over the campaign, were subsequently placed on paid administrative leave, and then terminated from their positions after an investigation “determined they had violated school district policies.”
Sager and Medart then filed a lawsuit to protect their constitutional right to free speech and religious freedom, but a federal district court issued a summary judgement against them.
You can watch a brief video of the Sager and Medart explaining more about their case below:
In a 69-page opinion issued June 17, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s decision rejecting Sager and Medart’s claim Oregon violated their free speech, religious freedom and equal protection rights.
Judge Jennifer Sung, nominated to the court by former President Joe Biden, authored the opinion. Judges Johnnie Rawlinson, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton, and Danielle Forrest, a nominee of President Trump, were also on the panel. No dissents were recorded.
“The First Amendment generally prohibits the government from retaliating or discriminating against individuals for engaging in protected speech,” Judge Sung wrote.
“Vigilance is necessary to ensure that public employers do not use authority over employees to silence discourse, not because it hampers public functions but simply because superiors disagree with the content of employees’ speech.”
In a statement, Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Matthew Hoffman expressed gratitude for the court’s decision:
The Daily Citizen is glad the Ninth Circuit, which for years was widely regarded as the most notoriously liberal federal appellate court in the country, made the right decision in this case.
“Our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. “The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.”
We cheer on Rachel Sager and Katie Medart who chose to follow their consciences over an ideological government dictate.
The Ninth Circuit remanded the case back to the district court, which will now adjudicate the case based on the merits of the educators’ claims.
The case is Damiano v. Grants Pass School District.
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Related articles and resources:
Teacher Wrongly Fired for Refusing to Use ‘Preferred Pronouns’ Wins $575,000
Snowboard Coach Wins $75K After Termination for Saying Men and Women are Different
Photo from Alliance Defending Freedom.
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