(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Iowa Teachers Sue District Over Being Disciplined For LBGTQ+ Club After School Drag Show [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-23 The Des Moines Register is reporting that three teachers for the Ankeny School District (a suburb on the north side of Des Moines) are suing the district for disciplinary actions taken against them by the district after the Gender-Sexuality Alliance student clubs for Ankeny High School and Southview Middle School held an after school, end of the year party in 2022 that included drag performances by a graduating senior and two non-student young adults (under 21). The lawsuit alleges that the teachers are being discriminated against for sexual orientation or for associating with others based on their sexual orientation and that the district violated their rights to free speech. One of the teachers is also claiming retaliation against her by the district after she complained that the GSA club was being discriminated against and treated differently than other student organizations in the district, including not being allowed to hang club-related posters or advertisements of club events. Two of the teachers involved were staff sponsors of the clubs, one on an interim basis while the regular sponsor was on maternity leave. A third teacher involved in the suit attended the event and provided monetary tips for the performers. Students in the high school organization expressed in March 2022 they wanted to have an end-of-year celebration as a safe space for LGBTQ students and a way for soon-to-be 10th graders at Southview to meet their peers at Ankeny High School. Students wanted to host an ice cream social and a youth-friendly drag show. The event was not publicized outside of GSA meetings to ensure anyone who attended would be safe, the petition says. In May 2022, the petition said, Blahunka coordinated with the activities director to have Southview students walk over to the high school for the celebration in her classroom and the auditorium. The student club members themselves requested the event and planned the event themselves while a senior made arrangements for the drag show. The event went off without a hitch, with the drag performers lip-syncing to songs that had been pre-approved for the event and spoke to students about their experiences. "At no point during the celebration did anyone expose themselves to a student or do anything obscene, inappropriate or engage in behavior that interrupted the educational environment at the school," the lawsuit said. Further, none of the parents, students, or others in attendance voiced any complaints or concerns about the event. However, Right-Wing activists caught wind of the event and began lifting images and video from various social media platforms and posting them for their own purposes, leading to harassment including comparisons to pedophiles and threats and even violence by fellow students directed at students who attended the event. The result was that two days after the event, both club sponsors were placed on administrative leave. The third teacher, who was not a sponsor but attended the event, was placed on leave after informing the school administration he had been present at the event and had given some students money to use to tip the drag performers. The three were informed they could not come on school grounds, attend any school events, and a gag order was placed on them prohibiting them from speaking with any district students, parents or staff members. The three staff members were informed by the state Board of Educational Examiners that they were being accused of violating ethical standards by the district. Before the BOEE reviewed and issued a decision on this accusation, they were informed the district was going to carry on with disciplinary action on its own. The result of this was that one was found to the district to have transported middle school students to the high school, and both club sponsors were found to have violated school policy by not confirmed students had given permission to appear in photos taken at the event. The third was found in violation for giving money to students. As punishment, one club sponsor was suspended without pay for five days and the other for three days. All three were issued “last chance agreements” by the district that stipulated they could be fired for any future policy violations. They were also banned from sponsoring any school clubs or events for a year. After this punishment was handed down, the BOEE finally issued its decision on the case, dismissing it and finding that the district lacked probable cause and that the district had approved the event prior to it occurring. The three teachers are now suing the district, saying their actions were no different that those taken by other staff members sponsoring or attending school events. One thought I had after reading about this case is to wonder how the district feels about powder puff football events? Usually in those events, the players are girls (often the cheer squad) and the football team act as the cheer squad, with members often adding elements of female attire like skirts or tutus to their clothing, or even donning full-on female cheerleading outfits (see some examples below, the first is from Texas, the next two from Iowa, the last from Florida). A Powder Puff King & Queen, 2017. Powder Puff Football Cheerleaders, 2016. Powder Puff Football Cheerleaders, 2023. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/23/2154441/-Iowa-Teachers-Sue-District-Over-Being-Disciplined-For-LBGTQ-Club-After-School-Drag-Show Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/