Anti-Transgender MPS Counselor Suing To Get Job Back
Marissa Darlingh gave anti-trans speech outside Capitol after identifying herself as MPS elementary counselor.
Former Milwaukee Public Schools counselor Marissa Darlingh poses for a photograph. Photo from of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
Editor’s note: This story contains language and descriptions some may find offensive.
A former Milwaukee Public Schools counselor is suing after she says the district violated her free-speech rights by firing her over anti-transgender comments she made at a rally.
Marissa Darlingh is being represented by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, in the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
In a video of the gathering posted to YouTube, Darlingh identifies herself by name and as a Milwaukee Public Schools elementary counselor and says “f— transgenderism,” among other comments.
“I oppose gender ideology ever entering the walls of my school building,” Darlingh said while protestors yell in the background. “On my dead f——- body will my students be exposed to the harms of gender identity ideology. Not a single one of my students under my f—— watch will ever, ever transition socially and sure as hell not medically.”
In a Sept. 30 letter notifying Darlingh of her termination, the district’s Chief Human Resources Officer Adria Maddaleni wrote that the comments were “threatening, intimidating and abusive” toward students and the public and that they violated multiple district policies, including an anti-bullying policy and one that prohibits activity that significantly detracts from the district’s reputation. The letter also said Darlingh violated standards from the American School Counselor Association on protecting the well-being of transgender and gender non-conforming youth.
In the lawsuit, Darlingh disputes a section of the termination letter, which says she “made clear (she) will not respect a transgender student’s wishes and use their preferred name and pronoun.” Darlingh instead claims she explained she would “follow the parents’ lead as to a student’s names and pronouns, even if the student transitioned,” the complaint says.
In addition to “blatantly” violating First Amendment protections, WILL attorneys say the district violated Darlingh’s constitutional right to due process by not giving her sufficient notice before she was suspended from her job on June 14.
“As a private citizen, I have the right to express my views concerning gender ideology on my own time, and identifying myself as a school counselor doesn’t negate that right,” Darlingh said in a statement Wednesday. “My speech had little to no impact on my students, their educational experience or our therapeutic relationship. The basis of my unscripted speech stemmed from my desire to protect children.”
“At a public rally, Ms. Darlingh identified herself as representative of MPS and declared her refusal to provide mental health services in her role as a school counselor,” the statement said. “She proceeded to engage in a vulgar, insensitive, and disrespectful tirade aimed directly at the students in her care.”
Along with any monetary damages, the suit asks that the district immediately reinstate Darlingh at her job with backpay.
Earlier this year, protestors marched from district offices to Darlingh’s home and demanded she be fired. Within a week of Darlingh’s April speech outside Wisconsin’s Capitol, the state’s Department of Public Instruction started an investigation into Darlingh’s counseling license. A DPI spokesperson confirmed Wednesday the investigation is ongoing, but declined to comment further, citing confidentiality.
Listen to the WPR report here.
Counselor who gave anti-trans speech sues over firing from Milwaukee Public Schools was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
WILL will step up and defend any rogue public employee who espouses the bigoty of the right wing activists. Most often, their aberrant behavior is somehow related to “freedom of speech”. These litigation tactics are simply meant to intimidate and harass anyone advocating for persons or positions that that the fringe right wing decides is unacceptable. In totalitarian counties, dissenters are threaten with bodily harm and are often visited in the night by the Secret Police, In Wisconsin, there is not threat of bodily harm just a threat to be sued and be served with a subpoena.
Appalling! I confess ignorance about the WLRN and these anti-trans women. But Darlingh’s public screed, threats included, shows her to be unfit to work with children in any environment. She is vulgar, unprofessional, and deranged. The fact that she’s suing using WILL tells me all I need to know about her politics. MPs is right to fire her. She can go get a job at a Q-approved school.
Weird flex from an obvious lesbian.