America First Legal Senior Counsel Ian Prior and Loudoun County parent Abbie Platt discuss gender ideology policies in schools. They reveal how these policies impact children, parental rights, and the legal battles faced by families opposing them. NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A federal appeals court ruled earlier this week that a now-fired Oregon school counselor’s display of books promoting binary gender views to students was not protected by the First Amendment. [snip] The court also rejected Theis’ appeal. Security guards stand in front of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif., on June 12, 2017. (Getty Images) According to the ruling, Theis, an education specialist who worked for the IMESD for more than 15 years, displayed books titled “He is He” and “She is She” in two separate offices on different campuses when meeting with middle school students. [snip] Following an investigation into the incident, Theis told school administrators that he did not mean any harm by displaying the books and even considered putting them away when transgender-identifying students visited his office. The InterMountain Education Service District in Oregon, where Roderick E. Theis II worked for more than 15 years as an education specialist serving middle school students. (Google Maps) However, IMESD concluded the display of the books was a “bias incident” and instructed the counselor to remove them from his school offices — or risk termination. [snip] Theis’ attorneys went on to argue that the counselor was protected from the injunction when meeting with students outside their official sessions, but a lower court later ruled that the partial injunction prohibited Theis from displaying the books when students were present in his office. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the firing of Oregon school counselor Roderick E. Theis II over his display of books promoting binary gender views to middle school students. (iStock) The lower court, however, issued another ruling against Theis’ termination appeal. The ruling was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, with the majority opinion outlining longstanding precedents that an educators’ speech is considered government speech when interacting with students. [snip] The sole dissenting opinion, written by Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, sharply criticized the ruling. VanDyke argued that Theis’ books should be considered personal decorative items in his office, while questioning if a school could permit employees to hang pro-Palestinian banners while simultaneously banning the display of the Israeli flag. “Could public school administrators establish a policy allowing office decoration with partisan political messages deemed sufficiently ‘compassionate,’ but prohibit — as inherently hostile — any political speech that did not align with the Democratic Socialists of America platform?” VanDyke wrote. Fox News Digital reached out to Theis’ attorney and the IMESD for comment. (*) Full article: https://www.foxnews.com/media/fired-school-counselor-loses-again-after-free-speech-fight-over-gender-themed-books-his-office Post navigation How Chinese Communism Is Penetrating U.S. Universities — And Threatening Our Future
