Mansfield teacher-of-the-year Stacy Bailey, left, and her wife Julie Vazquez (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
A week after the U.S. Supreme Court rules that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is sexual discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Mansfield ISD voted unanimously not to add sexual orientation or gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy.
Mansfield ISD teacher of the year Stacy Bailey sued the district after she was removed from her elementary school classroom and was placed under investigation because a parent didn’t like that she mentioned her wife. The school district lost its case, and as part of the settlement, the district was required to vote on a nondiscrimination policy. The vote was delayed until last night (Tuesday, June 23). District officials said they were waiting for a pending U.S. Supreme Court case for guidance.
The Bostock ruling, written by Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch, should have given the district the guidance it was looking for.
Other than making a statement about their opposition to employing LGBTQ faculty and staff and protecting LGBTQ students, the decision to vote against protection is moot. Bailey won her lawsuit without a U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying job discrimination based on her sexual orientation was illegal. Now that a ruling is in place, Mansfield ISD stands to lose all future cases brought by LGBTQ people it’s employing.
— David Taffet
Guess they’re beggin to be sued!
I don’t understand how they can do this if there’s a Supreme Court ruling saying they can’t. Are they banking on people having the money/time/knowledge to sue them? Because if so, that’s a pretty dumb way of going about things. Suck it up and put the policy in place. You can’t get much more concrete guidance than a Supreme Court ruling.
Unreal! If this is true we’ll have to go to court and fight! I guess they like attention, They are about to get some!
No they like taking money from kids and teacher and siphoning it away toward political gimmicks and adult fun.
Closed minded backwoods uneducated people working for the education system. I’m pretty sure they also think Mexico is responsible for coronavirus. Ha!
The article is correct but leaves out the part where they discussed their current policy already contains language in line with what the Supreme Court ruled. In short, they said they already believe students and staff should not be discriminated against. One board member even read a statement about protection of student and staff rights is important. Source: https://mansfieldisd.swagit.com/play/06232020-1391