Fired school counselor loses again after free speech fight over gender-themed books in his office A federal appeals court ruled earlier this week that a now-fired Oregon school counselor’s display of books promoting binary gender views to students was not protected by the First Amendment. The 2-1 decision handed down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld Roderick E. Theis II’s termination from Oregon’s InterMountain Education Service District (IMESD), according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital. The c ourt also rejected Theis’ appeal.
CHICAGO COLLEGE REMOVES LGBTQ PRIDE FLAG OVER INSTITUTIONAL NEUTRALITY CONCERNS According to the ruling, Theis, an education specialist who worked for the IMESD for more than 15 years, displayed books titled "He is He" and "She is She" in two separate offices on different campuses when meeting with middle school students. He also displayed a children’s book penned by conservative commentator Matt Walsh titled "Johnny the Walrus" that "allegorically comments on transgender issues," court documents said.
Following an investigation into the incident, Theis told school administrators that he did not mean any harm by displaying the books and even considered putt ing them away when transgender-identifying students visited his office. WISCONSIN TEACHER FIRED AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA POST ADVOCATING TO 'MAKE AMERICANS GREAT ASSASSINS AGAIN' However, IMESD concluded the display of the books was a " bias incident " and instructed the counselor to remove them from his school offices — or risk termination.