Her 11-year-old son was given an “identity flower” assignment requiring him to identify his “gender” for his teacher and classmates.
A Portland mother has filed a federal lawsuit against Portland Public Schools, alleging district officials retaliated against her for objecting to gender identity curriculum at her children's elementary school, ultimately barring her from campus and threatening to permanently exclude her from all district property.
The Liberty Justice Center's PARENTS Initiative filed the lawsuit on behalf of Allison Roberts against Portland Public Schools, Senior Director of Schools Chandra Wilson-Cooper, and Meriwether Lewis Elementary School Principal Deanne Froehlich in the US District Court for the District of Oregon on Aug. 12.
The complaint obtained by The Post Millennial alleges that Roberts was subjected to a one-year trespass order, publicly accused of "hate speech," investigated by district civil rights officials, and later threatened with a permanent district-wide ban after speaking out against school policies and curriculum concerning gender identity.
According to the complaint, Roberts became concerned after Lewis Elementary repainted benches with the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag and her 11-year-old son was given an "identity flower" assignment requiring him to identify his "gender" for his teacher and classmates.
Roberts alleges she received no advance notice and no opportunity to opt her son out of the assignment. Materials she later obtained from the school allegedly instructed students that they could identify as a boy or girl, that the label might later no longer "feel right," and asked students "what gender identity term feels right to you today." Students were then required to present their answers to the class, according to the lawsuit.
After Roberts said her concerns were not adequately addressed, she wrote an open letter to parents criticizing the school's policies and distributed it from a public sidewalk outside the school. The complaint states that no students were approached, no school property was used, and nobody was pressured to take the material.
The dispute escalated in February after Roberts became involved in a heated exchange with another parent and the parent's husband during school pickup. Roberts alleges the man repeatedly yelled, "White people are disgusting!" after asking whether she had voted for President Donald Trump. Roberts responded by accusing him of racism and swearing at him before leaving. The following morning, police arrived at Roberts' home and served her with a one-year trespass order barring her from Lewis Elementary. The complaint alleges the other parent was not similarly trespassed.
Froehlich subsequently sent an email to the school community accusing Roberts of "harassment, intimidation, and threatening behavior" and alleging a months-long pattern of "animus and harassment targeting vulnerable members of our community," according to the complaint. Froehlich also reportedly described Roberts' speech as "hate speech" and said she was being investigated by the district's Civil Rights and Racial Equity and Social Justice teams. Roberts alleges she had never previously been contacted about such an investigation.
Roberts appealed her trespass order, but the complaint alleges her 30-minute Zoom hearing was conducted before a panel consisting of two janitors and a basketball coach, with one janitor emptying garbage cans during the proceeding. No witnesses to the alleged harassment were called, according to the filing, and the district upheld the ban. Roberts consequently missed her son's elementary school graduation.
"One of the most painful parts of this experience has been missing the milestones every parent hopes to share with their children," Roberts said in a statement released by Liberty Justice Center.
"Because of the trespass order, I have been excluded from elementary school events, missing my son's graduation and losing irreplaceable moments with both of my children. It has been heartbreaking. These are memories our family can never get back."
Roberts later distributed a second letter from the sidewalk challenging what she called the district's "falsehoods, reputational distortions, institutional punishments, and public insinuations." Froehlich responded by describing Roberts' speech as "antithetical to everything we stand for as a community," according to the lawsuit. Three days later, the district allegedly warned Roberts that her letter constituted "continued harassment" and that her trespass order could be permanently expanded to every Portland Public Schools property.
The lawsuit alleges the threat caused Roberts to stop distributing her letters and speaking publicly about the dispute because she did not know what the district considered "harassment." The suit separately challenges a Portland Public Schools policy concerning transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive students. According to the complaint, the policy directs the district to "deny all requests for prior notification and/or student exemptions" from "LGBTQ2SIA+ affirming lessons." It also allegedly allows students to socially transition at school without parental consent and directs staff to balance disclosure requirements against student requests to keep a gender identity secret from parents.
"Parents have a constitutional right to speak out about their children's education—especially when they are asking for transparency about what their children are being taught," Timothy R. Snowball, senior counsel for Liberty Justice Center's PARENTS Initiative, said. "Government officials cannot silence a parent simply because they dislike her views."
The lawsuit brings claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, accusing the district of First Amendment retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, challenging its harassment policy as vague and overbroad, and arguing that its gender-related nondisclosure policy violates Roberts' religious exercise and parental rights.
Roberts is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions as well as declarations that the alleged retaliation, trespass threat, harassment policy, and nondisclosure policy are unconstitutional.
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