Censored: “He is he,” and, “she is she”

A social worker filed a lawsuit against an Oregon school district on Wednesday after officials banned him from displaying several children’s books about God’s design for gender.

Rod Theis, a licensed clinical social worker at InterMountain Education Service District in Umatilla County, wanted to display the books He is He and She is She in his office. The books explain to children ages 2-8 how they can embrace and love the way God made them.

Theis, who has worked at InterMountain since 2008, said it’s rare for him to have an office of his own because he visits a variety of schools within the rural district each week. So when he received his own office space at La Grande Middle School, he wanted to enhance the space. He bought the two books and, in October, put them on the small ledge of a window behind his desk.

To Theis, He is He and She is She offer a positive and encouraging message to children. He called the cover artwork, which depicts two children smiling widely, “friendly.” He emphasized that he did not regularly read the books to children; they were meant to be decor.

“They convey that it’s good to be a boy, that it’s good to be a girl, that these are intentional, purposeful things that God decided,” Theis said. “The kids just need this message, they need this affirmation, especially at a time when I think there’s a lot of other confusing messages out there.”

About three weeks after he began displaying the books, the middle school’s principal informed Theis that another employee complained that displaying the books was “transphobic.” When Theis met with the principal to discuss this, the principal admitted that he did not find anything offensive or inappropriate in the materials.

However, because the employee filed a bias incident complaint against Theis, the district administration conducted an investigation. Theis had to go line by line through the books with officials to determine if the materials were “a potential bias incident relating to another person’s gender identity,” according to the lawsuit.

Officials ultimately labeled Theis’ use of the books as “a hostile expression of animus toward another person relating to their actual or perceived gender identity.” The superintendent told Theis that the books equated to a bias incident because they “promote a binary view of gender, which excludes and invalidates an understanding of gender diversity.”

They ordered Theis to remove the books or face discipline or even termination. Officials also banned him from displaying Johnny the Walrus, a satirical children’s book on transgenderism that Theis had displayed in his office spaces at two other schools.

Officials justified their actions under a school district speech policy that allows them to censor expression they deem to target a certain group or find inappropriate. Theis tried to appeal the district’s decision, but the superintendent denied his appeal. Theis then filed a lawsuit to contend for his speech rights.

The InterMountain speech policy unconstitutionally limits speech, said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Theis. He said that because the district allows other employees to decorate their spaces with other political and cultural messages, Theis has a First Amendment right to display things that exhibit his views.

Langhofer noted that Theis’ office was located between several English classrooms and the library, which had books on display that included opposing viewpoints on gender or other political messages. The library showcased a book that has a back cover image of two boys kissing.

“When a government [organization] opens up its building to allow its employees to express their own personal messages, they cannot censor some of those teachers,” Langhofer said. “They are encouraging their teachers to express messages about gender and sex that the school agrees with, but they are censoring [opposing views].” The Supreme Court is clear that the government can’t punish employees for expression that officials simply disagree with, he added.

Langhofer said that across the country, many schools allow staff members to express only one view on gender.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in January in a lawsuit from an Indiana high school music teacher who said school officials forced him to resign because of his religious beliefs on gender. The Brownsburg Community School Corporation forced John Kluge to resign after he requested a religious accommodation to refer to students by only their last names to avoid referring to them by names or pronouns that didn’t match their sex. A ruling in Kluge’s case is still pending.

Last summer, two female educators in Oregon argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for their right to express views on gender through their own grassroots organization that they operated outside school hours. School officials fired the educators after several staff at North Middle School in Grants Pass, Ore., labeled them as “anti-trans.” A ruling is also pending in that case.

“Our students today are really struggling with their identity,” Langhofer said. “They are being told that their environment or their feelings determine who they are rather than the fact that they are created in the image of God. … We are doing our children a real disservice.”

Langhofer hopes that a win for Theis will remind educators nationwide that they have a right to express themselves openly.

“That is actually a huge driving motivation for me in this entire case,” Theis said. “I hear from Christian educators that they believe they will likely be fired at some point in their career because of this similar issue. … Ultimately, my hope is that we wouldn’t have to be afraid of that.”