The Patriots

by Michael Gryboski

An Indiana court has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Roman Catholic Archdiocese by a former private school teacher who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage.

Marion Superior Court Judge Lance D. Hamner issued an order Friday in favor of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit by former teacher Joshua Payne-Elliot.

According to the order, the court concluded that there was a “lack of subject matter jurisdiction” and “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, a law firm that represented the archdiocese, released a statement Friday expressing support for the order.

“If the First Amendment means anything, it means the government can’t punish the Catholic Church for asking Catholic educators to support Catholic teaching,” Goodrich said.

“This has always been a very simple case, because the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the freedom of religious schools to choose teachers who support their religious faith.”

Kathleen DeLaney, the attorney representing Payne-Elliott, told the Indianapolis Star that she took issue with the order, especially its explanation for the complaint's dismissal.

“The decision itself offers no reason, no rationale, no basis,” DeLaney said. “We have no way to know how the judge got to the decision.”

In June 2019, Payne-Elliot was fired from Cathedral High School after it was revealed that he had married another teacher of the same sex who worked at a different high school.

The firing reportedly came at the specific direction of the archdiocese, as the school had originally intended to renew his contract for the 2019-2020 school year.

Although Payne-Elliot reached a settlement with Cathedral High School soon after his firing, he filed legal action against the archdiocese, accusing it of forcing the school to dismiss him.

“We hope that this case will put a stop to the targeting of LGBTQ employees and their families,” said Payne-Elliot in a statement at the time, as reported by the Indianapolis Star.

A trial court had originally supported having the case go forward, however, the Indiana state Supreme Court intervened and told the lower court to reconsider the complaint.

In July 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that two Catholic schools could classify their teachers as ministers and not be held to the standards of anti-discrimination laws.

Justice Samuel Alito delivered the opinion of the court, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, which regarded two lawsuits against two Catholic schools in California.

“The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission,” Alito wrote.

“Judicial review of the way in which religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate.”

Source:  https://www.christianpost.com/news/catholic-school-can-fire-teacher-for-being-in-same-sex-marriage-judge-rules.html

First out, the two worst books; but more to come.

Responding to local outrage, School Committee and Superintendent intend to make removal process easier in the future.

Parents don't have to just helplessly allow schools to give out these books to kids.

Too many parents think that it’s impossible to “win” when it comes to removing horrible books in children’s libraries. But it really is doable!

In Idaho, a half-dozen outraged local parents on a local MassResistance team recently forced a high school to remove two pornographic LGBT books from the school library. And they plan to force more out soon. This was done even though the leftist Principal, school counselor, and other staffers did their best to keep the books in.

Centennial High School is located in liberal Boise, ID. However, it’s part of the West Ada School District, which includes several conservative suburbs. Earlier this year, after reading about the toxic LGBT books targeting children in schools around the country, our local parents investigated and found several of them in Centennial HS library.

They were very upset that their local high school was providing this horrific material to the students. They decided to focus on the two worst: Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay.

Gender Queer is a revolting book about a young female who wants to be male. It has depictions of her masturbating while pretending to be male and imagining she has a penis that's receiving oral sex. It includes images of naked boys kissing each other, which she dreams about.

This Book is Gay is a pornographic "how-to" book for teenagers on homosexual sexual practices and perversions. All forms of “gay” and “lesbian” sex are endorsed and celebrated with graphic instructions.

Taking action

A conservative majority had just taken control of the West Ada School Board in November 2021. In addition, the Superintendent was fairly conservative. But unfortunately, our team found that they were not interested in doing anything about these books – at least at first.

But during February and March of 2022, our half-dozen local Idaho MassResistance parents relentlessly pushed their message. They were allowed only very limited time to testify at meetings. But they emailed the School Committee members, called them, and set up personal meetings.

The School Committee eventually agreed to order the high school to go through its removal process for the two books.

However, for any books to be reconsidered, a laborious process had to be followed. First, an informal committee of seven members of the high school staff would vote on the book. If they failed to reject it, a nine-member formal committee would then decide. That committee would include four school staffers and five parents, with each parent appointed by one of the five School Board members.

The first book, Gender Queer, was kept by the first committee by 4-3. But the second committee, which included parents, voted to remove the book by 7-2.

Moving forward

However, the MassResistance team wants to make it easier to remove obscene books. They are working with the School Board members and Superintendent to streamline the book reconsideration process. As soon as that’s in place, they’ll get to work on the rest of the inappropriate books they found!

And of course, those books should never have gotten into the school in the first place. After receiving results from a FOIA request regarding how those two books entered into the West Ada School District, the staff and administrators could not (or more likely, would not) determine who brought the books into the school district in the first place, and the process used. (Was it a recommendation from the American Library Association, or LGBT groups? etc.) We need to get to the bottom of that!

Final thoughts

This is what just half a dozen parents can accomplish! You don’t need a group of hundreds.

We should all be angered that the high school Principal, counselor, and others all consistently voted to keep these disgusting books in the hands of their students. That’s a huge problem. Those people should not be in charge of teaching children. We wouldn’t need a process for removing obscene books if we had normal people with common sense running our schools and libraries.

by Michael Gryboski

A federal judge has granted a temporary order in the case of a Kansas teacher suing her school district over policies requiring teachers to use the preferred names and pronouns of trans-identified students and hide those preferences from parents. 

U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter partially granted a preliminary injunction on behalf of Fort Riley Middle School teacher Pamela Ricard preventing Geary County Schools Unified School District 475 from disciplining her for not referring to a student’s preferred name and pronouns in her communications with a trans-identified student’s parents "within the regular course of her duties."

The injunction lasts until next Wednesday or “at the conclusion of Plaintiff’s contractual responsibilities to the District, whichever is later." The court stated that the motion was issued in light of the fact that the teacher doesn't plan to communicate with a parent to disclose a student’s preferred name and pronouns.

Ricard sued Geary County Schools Unified School District 475 after being suspended in April 2021 for three days and given a reprimand because she called a biologically female student by her legal name and used female pronouns.

Ricard's lawsuit names school district board members, Superintendent Reginald Eggleston and Fort Riley Principal Kathleen Brennan.

Teeter, a Trump appointee, found that Ricard "is likely to succeed on her free exercise claim for the Communication with Parent Policy" but denied a preliminary injunction to Ricard's claims against the school district policy requiring teachers to use preferred names and pronouns in class. 

Teeter concluded that Ricard could still be punished under the Communication with Parents Policy, which “prohibits employees from revealing to parents that a student has requested use of a preferred name or different set of pronouns at school” except under certain circumstances.

She wrote that while both parties reached a "détente" regarding the Preferred Names and Pronouns Policy, they are "very much at odds over the Communication with Parents Policy and the potential for disciplinary action should Plaintiff violate it." The policy prohibits employees from revealing to parents that a student has requested use of a preferred name or different set of pronouns at school “unless the student requests the administration or a counselor to do so, per Federal FERPA guidance.”

“Defendants are ENJOINED from disciplining Plaintiff for referring to a student by the student’s preferred name and pronouns in her communications with the student’s parents within the regular course of her duties,” ruled Teeter.

“The Court relies on Plaintiff’s statements that she does not intend to communicate with a parent for the sole purpose of disclosing a student’s preferred name and pronouns.”

Ricard is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit based in Arizona that has argued several high-profile religious liberty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in a statement Tuesday that he believes the government cannot “force someone to speak contrary to their deeply held religious beliefs and convictions.”[NOTE to Parents:Take your heads out of the sand and LOOK at what public education is making YOU pay for.. why keep your kid in that kind of environmentl? - ED]

“Pam has a distinguished teaching career and treats all her students with dignity and respect," the attorney said. "We’re pleased the court has freed her to exercise her constitutionally protected freedom to teach and communicate honestly with parents while this case moves forward."

The lawsuit claims that neither the school district nor the school had a "formal policy" in place dictating that teachers use the preferred name and pronouns at the time Ricard was suspended. 

“Instead, Ms. Ricard was suspended and reprimanded under generic school district policies related to Bullying by Staff; Diversity and Inclusion; and Staff-Student Relations prohibiting ‘harassment’ and ‘bullying’ of students by staff," the complaint claims. [Oh, Bullshit! ! This is nothing but LGBTQ propaganda aimed at compromising your child's social beliefs and leading them down the wrong path in life. THIS is indoctrination NOT education. - ED]

Will Rapp of the Kansas chapter of the LGBT advocacy group GLSEN believes that not affirming the gender identity of trans-identified children is harmful to trans-identified youth. [How stupid is this? Simple gender dysphoria is NOT a life changinne experience. Most kids will out gwow it. if left alone. -ED]

“This incident isn’t an isolated issue," Rapp told CNN. "According to GLSEN research, more than 40% of transgender students in Kansas report being unable to use their chosen name and correct pronouns in school."

Rapp also argues that educators “must be held accountable for creating a safe and affirming environment for all students, regardless of gender identity.”

The school district argued that a preliminary injunction would hinder its “obligations to protect young persons entrusted to its care." 

"The Court recognizes that the District is trying to create a stable learning environment for children. But the District fails to articulate any specific, concrete harms sufficient to outweigh Plaintiff’s weighty interest in preliminary relief," Teeter wrote. "Therefore, the balance of harms favors Plaintiff."