On October 24, 2025, Defending Education (DE) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in Theis v. Intermountain Education Service District Board of Directors, supporting teacher Roderick E. Theis’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Like any government employer, public schools can control what employees say as part of their job. But when schools let employees share personal views, such as by keeping books about sexuality and gender in their classrooms and offices, they can’t allow the views they agree with and punish the ones they don’t. That is viewpoint discrimination, and it is never allowed, even when the speech would not otherwise be protected. A federal trial court in Oregon ignored these principles when it ruled against Theis, who displayed books with themes affirming biological reality in his office.
Defending Ed’s Vice President, Sarah Parshall Perry, stated:
“Schools cannot allow some speech on controversial topics like transgender ideology, while prohibiting the opposite viewpoint that endorses traditional views on sex and gender. A school is under no obligation to permit private speech on the government clock. But if it does, it cannot play favorites with the views expressed in that speech. We look forward to the 9th Circuit’s speedy and accurate rectification of the lower court’s ruling against teacher Roderick Theis.”
Read the full brief below:
