PITTSBURGH – Three parents have filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania federal court, alleging their civil rights were violated when the Mount Lebanon School District provided classroom instruction to their first-grade children on the topics of gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning.
Carmilla Tatel, Stacy Dunn and Gretchen Melton filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on June 8 versus the Mount Lebanon School District, Mount Lebanon School Board, first-grade teacher Megan Williams, Superintendent Dr. Timothy Steinhauer, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Marybeth D. Irvin, Principal Brett Bielewicz and Mount Lebanon School Board members Jacob W. Wyland, Valerie M. Fleisher, Todd W. Ellwein, Andrew D. Freeman, Erin C. Gentzel, Claire B. Guth, Dr. Justin D. Hackett, Anamaria A. Johnson and Sarah L. Olbrich.
The suit claims that Williams, a first-grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary School, a part of the Mount Lebanon School District in Pittsburgh, violated the parents’ rights when she inserted her personal beliefs around gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning into her first-grade classroom.
Williams allegedly played a video called “Jacob’s New Dress” for her six- and seven-year-old students, read from books whose subject matter included gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning, explained that her child had worn an “Elsa dress” for Halloween and “explained to her students that sometimes ‘parents are wrong’ and parents and doctors ‘make mistakes’ when they bring a child home from the hospital.”
The suit goes on to say that the child of one of the plaintiffs explained to his mother that Williams had told him, “I can wear a dress and have hair like my mom”, chose to speak with one of the plaintiff’s children about gender dysphoria repeatedly and supposedly told him not to tell his parents about their conversations.
“Defendant Williams is the mother of a transgender child who, like her students, is in the first grade. While that may give her unique perspectives and views on gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning, it does not give her the right to impose those views on a captive audience of six and seven-year-old children. This is particularly true given that the scope of the Grade 1 Curriculum which is published to parents includes no such instruction, let alone such instruction that is not given by a professional counselor,” the suit says.
“Williams’ unrequested and unconsented to teaching of these topics is in large manner no different than, and as equally improper as, an unsolicited approach by a neighbor that raises these topics with a young child. On another level, however, it is far worse – because her role as a teacher gives her a unique ability to influence the young children in her class. She used plaintiffs’ children as part of an unconsented to social/thought experiment to fulfill her own personal agenda.”
The suit adds that Williams stood by her actions in the classroom, actions which were supported by her co-defendants in the Mount Lebanon School District, and continued to do so in a phone call to one of the plaintiffs.
“Weeks after this plaintiff had removed her child from Williams’ class, she received a call from a private number (not a District number). Although she did not recognize the number, she answered the call. Remarkably and shockingly, it was Williams calling this parent. This student was no longer in Williams’ class. She had no professional (or other) basis for calling plaintiff. Obviously emboldened by the support from the Administration and School Board defendants, Williams first sarcastically said to plaintiff that she ‘wanted to applaud her,” the suit states.
“Williams then voiced to plaintiff that she did not understand why her instruction [on gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning] was a problem. Plaintiff not so politely told her of her strong parental viewpoint to the contrary. Williams then said to plaintiff, ‘As long as I am on this Earth, I am going to teach children what I feel they need to know’ and hung up. Under no circumstances was this call appropriate for Williams to make.”
A spokesperson for Mt. Lebanon School District remarked that the lawsuit “contains various allegations that are untrue or based on partial truths that mischaracterize events for sensational effect” and “looks forward to the opportunity to set the record straight.”
For counts of various civil rights violations, the plaintiffs are seeking the following reliefs:
• Preliminary and permanent injunctive relief in the form of an injunction, prohibiting the District from conducting instruction on gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning, or allowing parents to opt their children out of such instruction;
• A declaratory judgment that prohibits the District from conducting instruction on gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning, or allowing parents to opt their children out of such instruction;
• Compensatory damages to be proven at trial, via expert mental health testimony arising from use of plaintiffs’ children as part of a social/thought experiment and/or, in the alternative, nominal damages;
• Punitive damages for using plaintiffs’ children as part of an unconsented to social/thought experiment conducted by a teacher without the appropriate training or background to do so;
• Reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in prosecuting this litigation; and
• Any and all other relief that the Court deems appropriate.
The plaintiffs are represented by David J. Berardinelli of DeForest Koscelnik & Berardinelli, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants are represented by Christopher L. Voltz and Matthew M. Hoffman of Tucker Arensberg, also in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:22-cv-00837
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com