Georgia Board Uphold Firing of Teacher Who Read ‘Gender Non-Binary’ Book to Fifth Graders

A children's book on gender in Irvine, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A former Georgia teacher who was fired for reading to her fifth-grade class a book promoting the idea of gender fluidity will not get her job back, the state’s education board said.

The teacher, Katie Rinderle, had been teaching at Due West Elementary School for 10 years. She was fired last August by the Cobb County School Board after parents complained about her reading her mostly ten-year-old students a picture book called “My Shadow Is Purple,” which encourages young readers to “be true to themselves” and explore “beyond the gender binary.”

Written and illustrated by Australian author Scott Stuart, the book uses colors of shadow as an analogy of gender norms, whereas a boy’s shadow is blue, while a girl’s shadow is pink. It focuses on a six-year-old boy who has a purple shadow and enjoys a range of both stereotypically masculine and feminine activities, implying that he is what LGBTQ activists would call gender non-binary.

In a party-line 4–3 vote, the county school board—comprised of four Republicans and three Democrats—chose to fire Ms. Rinderle, although a tribunal assembled by the elementary school determined that she should keep her job.

“I believe in keeping our classrooms focused on academics and the Georgia Standards, while parents discuss social issues in their living rooms,” school board member Randy Scamihorn, a Republican, said at that time.

Ms. Rinderle filed an appeal to the state a month after the vote, an effort that proved unsuccessful.

At their Feb. 22 meeting, the Georgia Board of Education voted unanimously to uphold Ms. Rinderle’s firing without further discussing the matter, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Under Georgia law, the former teacher has 30 days to appeal the decision in Cobb County Superior Court.

Ms. Rinderle, backed by the Georgia Association of Educators, is already suing the Cobb County School District and its leaders for alleged violation of Title IX—the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education settings.

In a complaint filed last week in a federal court in Atlanta, she stated that her employment was terminated for “actively and openly supporting their LGBTQ students.”

“Rinderle’s termination resulted from and in retaliation for her reading a book about a gender nonconforming character, her advocacy for LGBTQ and gender nonconforming students, and her opposition to discrimination against students due to their nonconformity with gender roles and sex stereotypes,” the complaint read.

In April 2022, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a slew of education bills, including one that prohibits classroom instruction that “advocate for divisive concepts.” This legislative effort, aimed at keeping what the Republican governor called “woke politics” out of the classroom, has since prompted school districts across the Peach State to develop their own policies regarding topics that might violate the law.

Following the passage of the new laws, the Cobb County School District adopted a rule banning “controversial,” “divisive,” and “sensitive” topics. While the state law only bans certain concepts related to race and racism, the school district officials found that Ms. Rinderle’s discussion of gender identity in front of a class of fifth-graders was inappropriate and violated the district’s policy.

Ms. Rinderle disagreed, arguing that the district’s policy was “vague and arbitrary,” as it has no reference to what constitutes a “divisive” or “controversial” issue.

She also defended reading “My Shadow Is Purple,” which she said is not a “divisive” book.

“‘My Shadow Is Purple’ represented the identities and perceived identities of students attending Due West and Rinderle’s classes: students with varying interests and identities, including differing gender identities and LGBTQ students,” she argued. “To the extent ‘My Shadow is Purple’ advocated anything, it is acceptance of differences in others and self-acceptance.”

The Georgia Association of Educators, which represents over 20,000 public school employees, joined Ms. Rinderle as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.