My brother currently works as a school teacher in K-12 and he is openly and proudly gay. One of his students' mothers has apparently gone bonkers upon learning of his sexual orientation. She wrote letters to the school board demanding his resignation due to him being a "threat" to the lives of children. She also has contacted parents demanding they sign a petition to have him removed from his job as a teacher, asserting that he is a pedophile (based on the fact he is gay). The school board has described his woman as being "relentless". Apparently this woman is a religious nut job and has been a thorn in the side of the state gov't for a long time. My brother hired an attorney for obvious reasons, who sent this woman a C&D letter. The lawyer was then contacted by the legal arm of some outifit in Mississippi called "The American Family Association". And get this... they are threatening to sue my brother for harassing this woman! Does anyone know of this outfit? They are located a thousand miles away but apparently have a huge legal team and big financial resources.
The AFA is an anti-LGBTQ hate group. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/american-family-association I would urge your brother to reach out to the Southern Poverty Law Center if he feels comfortable doing so!
Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes firing someone based on their sexual orientation illegal. Unless they took this case to the supreme court and overturned the CRA there is no way your brother could get fired. If he did get fired he would have a massive lawsuit and would be getting alot of money as a result.
This hasn't actually been tested in federal courts before, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would agree with this argument that Title VII and Title IX ban LGBTQ discrimination. Your brother could contact the EEOC as well.
Yea I looked into it actually. CRA doesn't include sexual orientation. California does have laws protecting people against this though. Contact your lawyer!
Along with the advice already provide, your brother should also contact Lambda Legal and the local chapter of the ACLU. Both of these organizations pretty much live to fight this sort of thing and give the American F**kwits Association a black eye. Beyond that, if your brother is in California, then there may also be state and city anti-discrimination laws that would apply. Further, if this woman is a long running thorn in the backside of the school board, they are probably not inclined to like her or take her side. Hope this helps, Todd
I grew up in MS, and I have to say it is the most back asswards state. I find it comical that she has to contact someone from across the country to stand behind her. Make sure he keeps records of phone calls, reports from others, mail, etc. that relates to this woman. He should be protected, as said above, but you can't rely on that 100%. Also, if she is slandering his name saying that he pedophile and such, to keep record of that. If he is knows any of the other parents personally, have them give statements on his behalf, etc. Best of luck to your brother! Stay strong and fight the good fight!!!
He actually is preferred not to disclose his sexual orientation to students or other staff, unless it's a LGBT studies class or he's been at the school for many years and has seniority etc. Even going through workshops in becoming college professors, they tell the male teachers especially not to disclose information like this. They can, but the school isn't responsible for the repercussions of that. Even if he didn't disclose he was gay, male teachers, especially those that teach prepubescent children are unfairly treated sometimes, and it's an issue not many talk about. I had a male gay friend and he was an on call sub signed by many school districts. A nosy female teacher was waiting for an opportunity to report him. The final bell rang and all the students left the class except for him, as he was writing a report for their teacher to read. A boy came back to the class about 20 minutes after school to get his sweater that he left in the class. The nosy ass teacher asked the boy if the sub was in that room alone with him, and he said he was. He was reported and he is not allowed to sub in that district anymore. So I'm not saying he's at fault, but you have to be careful. I would most definitely sue though.
