An Oregon school district has agreed to pay over half a million dollars in damages and attorneys’ fees for violating two educators’ free speech, religious freedom and equal protection rights.
In February 2021, Oregon’s Grants Pass School District 7 circulated an administrative memorandum, “Gender Identity, Transgender, Name, and Pronoun Guidance,” after the Oregon Department of Education issued guidance on “creating a safe and supportive school environment for transgender students.”
The district’s memorandum directs employes to “accept a student’[s] assertion of his/her/their own gender identity.” Furthermore, it instructs employees to “ensure that appropriate accommodations can be made” when a student “approaches District employees to request a change in gender, pronouns or names.”
But wait, it gets worse. The memorandum also directs district employees to hide a student’s sexual identity struggles and “socially transition” them without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
District employees “should not prohibit other students or employees from using the student’s preferred name or pronoun” … “even if the parents do not consent to a formal change of gender.”
Finally, the memorandum allows students to access restrooms, locker rooms or other facilities based on their own “preferred gender identity” rather than biological sex.
For two Christian educators employed by Grants Pass, these policies wouldn’t fly.
Rachel Sager and Katie Medart, who worked at North Middle School in the district, launched the “I Resolve” movement offering “alternative proposals regarding students’ preferred pronouns and names as well as restroom use.”
Sager met with Human Resources Director Danny Huber-Kantola, showing him copies of a draft resolution for their movement. Sager also told Superintendent Kirk Kolb that she and Medart planned to “inform the public on this matter of public concern” and “lobby legislators regarding [their] proposed solution.”
Initially, the two received a positive response, and Kolb said he would consider bringing the resolution to the district’s school board.
But the two quickly faced complaints from other staff over the campaign, were subsequently placed on paid administrative leave, and then terminated from their positions after an investigation “determined they had violated school district policies.”
As a result, Sager and Medart filed a lawsuit to protect their constitutional rights. They are being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Pacific Justice Institute attorneys.
You can learn more about Sager and Medart’s case below:
On June 17, 2025, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a 69-page opinion ruling in Sager and Medart’s favor.
Judge Jennifer Sung, nominated to the court by former President Joe Biden, authored the opinion. She was joined by Judges Johnnie Rawlinson, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton; and Danielle Forrest, a nominee of President Trump.
“The First Amendment generally prohibits the government from retaliating or discriminating against individuals for engaging in protected speech,” Judge Sung wrote.
“Vigilance is necessary to ensure that public employers do not use authority over employees to silence discourse, not because it hampers public functions but simply because superiors disagree with the content of employees’ speech.”
Following the court’s ruling, Grants Pass School District has now agreed to settle the lawsuit and pay $650,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees; issue a public statement acknowledging the educators’ wrongful termination; provide positive letters of recommendation for both teachers; revise its policy to comply with the First Amendment; and remove negative references from the educators’ personnel files.
“Educators are free to express opinions on fundamental issues of public concern — like gender identity education policy — that implicate the freedoms of teachers, parents, and students,” said ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann in a statement, adding,
The Grants Pass School District is taking the right step by acknowledging that teachers don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they set foot on school property. Public schools can’t retaliate against speech simply because they disagree with what’s said.
Teachers and school officials do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. The Daily Citizen applauds Sager and Medart for their bravery, courage and conviction.
Hopefully other school districts will take note: respect your employees’ constitutional rights – or face the music.
The case is Damiano v. Grants Pass School District No. 7.
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Related articles and resources:
God’s Amazing Grace in a Transgendered Person’s Life
The Journey Back to My True Identity
Chloe Cole: Transgender Surgery Regret
Understanding “Transgenderism”
Responding to a Transgender-Identified Family Member
‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents
Teacher Wrongly Fired for Refusing to Use ‘Preferred Pronouns’ Wins $575,000
Snowboard Coach Wins $75K After Termination for Saying Men and Women are Different
Court Sides with Teachers Fired for Opposing ‘Trans’ School Guidance
Photo from Alliance Defending Freedom.
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