Take Action! Support Oregon Educators’ Right to Free Speech
Rachel Damiano and Katie Medart were placed on administrative leave after speaking out against state and district “gender identity” policies
Rachel Damiano, Assistant Principal at North Middle School, and 7th-grade science teacher Katie Medart were placed on administrative leave by the Grants Pass School District 7 in Oregon this April after they began speaking out on their personal platforms in favor of reasonable and compassionate policy solutions to the conflict of rights caused by “gender identity.” Now, the two educators, who seek to promote “reasonable, loving, and tolerant solutions” through their new “I Resolve” Movement, will face a public pre-termination hearing on July 15.
Rachel and Katie are suing the school district over violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, as well as violations to the Oregon State Constitution.
Two Ways to Take Action
Sign the Petition: Tell the School District to support free speech!
Gender ideology extremists have launched a Change.org petition with nearly 2,000 signatures seeking to get Rachel and Katie fired. Sign our counter-petition demanding the District uphold employees’ First Amendment right to Free Speech!
Support Rachel and Katie at their pre-termination hearing
The July 15 pre-termination hearing will be where the school board votes on whether or not to fire or otherwise discipline Rachel and Katie. The hearing will be open to the public, both in-person and on Zoom. Sign up here to get instructions on how to attend:
About the Case
Gender identity is increasingly a free speech issue in the United States. New policies, regulations, and laws are being put in place at local, state, and federal levels which unconstitutionally demand that government employees, and increasingly even regular citizens, be compelled to use “preferred pronouns” or refer to people by other terms they do not agree with or believe in.
New York state, for example, now requires its (publicly employed) correctional officers to use “preferred pronouns.” In a lawsuit in Connecticut, a male judge ordered women to refer to male athletes as “female,” and then denied their motion that he recuse himself after this clear display of bias.
New policies put in place by the Grants Pass School District 7 would similarly compel school district employees and students alike into speech they may not necessarily agree with, as well as unconstitutionally limit the speech of employees both in and outside of the workplace.
In January 2021, SB 52 was introduced in the Oregon Senate. The bill, which has since passed and waits on the Governor’s desk for a signature, directs the Department of Education to develop and implement a statewide education plan for students who identify as “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit, intersex, asexual, nonbinary or another minority gender identity or gender orientation.”
While likely created with the best of intentions to help all youth succeed in education, the draft LGBTQ2SIA+ Student Success Plan put forth by the working group would further harm many groups of students including LGB students, trans-identified students, and female students by eliminating single-sex spaces and requiring enforcement of an “affirmation only” model.
Along with the Equality Act, which passed the US House in February, SB 52 provided the impetus for Rachel and Katie to begin speaking out against such policies and to propose alternative solutions. In response, they created the I Resolve Movement, a grassroots proposal for “resolutions that are reasonable and fair in both form and operation, are beneficial in helping to safeguard the mental, emotional and physical well-being of all public-school students.”
Their proposed resolution includes acknowledgment of the two biological sexes, requests that single-sex facilities be separated and named by anatomy rather than “gender,” and suggests access to private restrooms or locker rooms, or single-user gender-neutral facilities for people who prefer them. The resolution also protects free speech, parental rights, and students’ rights by allowing students to request courtesy changes on how they are referenced in school.
In response to their proposal, Rachel and Katie, who have over two decades of teaching experience between them, were accused of “inappropriate behavior,” and put on administrative leave. The two women did not reference their school district or identify themselves as employees of the school in the I Resolve Movement video, nor was the video made on district property or on school time. In fact, Rachel and Katie were initially encouraged by District Superintendent Kirk Kolb and North Middle School Principal Thomas Blanchard, who provided feedback on the initial drafts of the resolutions.
However, the men in charge cowardly backtracked after receiving complaints about the I Resolve video, and began threatening to terminate Rachel and Katie. The District soon threw the women under the bus, including sending emails to the entire District condemning I Resolve. As part of their investigation, Principal Blanchard questioned Rachel and Katie on their religious beliefs.
Original Speech Policy
As part of their complaint against their co-workers, district staff members claimed that Rachel and Katie had violated the district’s Speech Policy. The policy stated:
“Employees may exercise their right to participate fully in affairs of public interest on a local, county, state and national level on the same basis as any citizen in a comparable position in public or private employment and within the law.”
and:
“All district employees are privileged within the limitations imposed by state and federal laws and regulations to choose either side of a particular issue and to support their viewpoints as they desire by vote, discussion or the persuasion of others."
But, according to the lawsuit filed by Rachel and Katie, the original Speech Policy also prohibited "[s]uch discussion and persuasion . . . during the performance of district duties, except in open discussion during classroom lessons that center on a consideration of all candidates for a particular office or various sides of a particular political or civil issue” and included a disclaimer requirement stating that: “On all controversial issues, employees must designate that the viewpoints they represent on the issues are personal viewpoints and are not to be interpreted as the district's official viewpoint."
The original Speech Policy did not define "controversial issues," and in their discussions with the Principal and Superintendent, neither man informed the educators that their proposal would be considered “controversial” by District standards or subject to this disclaimer.
Amended Speech Policy
Shortly after placing Rachel and Katie on administrative leave, the School District voted to adopt a new Amended Speech Policy which prohibits employees from displaying or engaging in speech “supporting one side of any political or controversial civil issue” while on District premises or acting within the scope of their employment.
According to the lawsuit, the new Speech Policy defines “controversial civil issue” circularly to “specifically include issues which appear likely to create controversy among students, employees or the public, or which the District determines may be disruptive to its educational mission or instruction.”
The new policy also says, “In determining whether a civil issue is controversial, the district shall consider whether the speech is consistent with district policy and resolutions."
This new policy, which also requires that employees provide a disclaimer any time they speak on “controversial” issues, gives the District nearly unfettered freedom to censor any speech with which they disagree.
Within less than 24 hours of the announcement of the new Speech Policy, the Superintendent came under fire for a statement on Black Lives Matter — an undeniably controversial issue. Multiple other staff members expressed their opinions on the matter without disclaimer, and none of them have been subject to any disciplinary action under either the original or Amended Speech Policies. As far as has currently been reported, Rachel and Katie are the only school district employees who have been put through the grueling investigation and hearing process under these policies.
Support Free Speech for Women
The double-standard in this case, and in many other cases of women who have been fired for speaking on gender identity, is clear.
Thankfully, US Courts have started to recognize these violations of the First Amendment when it comes to campus free speech. Just three short days before Rachel and Katie were placed on leave, the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a professor who has been fired for refusing to use “preferred pronouns” for students at Shawnee State University. While Oregon is not in the 6th Circuit’s jurisdiction, the precedent is nonetheless an important one.
The ruling in that case stated:
“If professors lacked free-speech protections when teaching, a university would wield alarming power to compel ideological conformity. A university president could require a pacifist to declare that war is just, a civil rights icon to condemn the Freedom Riders, a believer to deny the existence of God, or a Soviet émigré to address his students as ‘comrades.’ That cannot be. ‘If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe’ such orthodoxy. Barnette, 319 U.S. at 642.’”
As dedicated educators, Rachel and Katie have always treated their students and other staff with respect, care, and tolerance, regardless of personal beliefs. The same can't be said about those who have waged a targeted campaign of vitriol against these two women, some of whom have even threatened bodily harm to Rachel and Katie due to their speech. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of American democracy and attempts such as this by the government to compel ideological conformity must be seen as the genuine threat to progress and civil liberties that they indeed are.
If you would like to support Rachel and Katie, please sign this petition asking the Grants Pass School District 7 to uphold Constitutionally-protected freedom of speech for teachers and students, including correcting their policy to be in alignment with the fundamental rights and freedoms that we all learned about in school.