Kellogg School District in North Idaho is denying it violated the free speech rights of a former student and former employee earlier this year.
District officials suspended student Travis Lohr in May after he told fellow students during an assembly quote, “Guys are guys and girls are girls, there is no in-between.”
Lohr also wasn’t allowed to walk at graduation.
He later filed a lawsuit in August saying the district violated his constitutional rights. In its response to the lawsuit filed earlier this month, district officials admit to suspending Lohr and forbidding him from walking at graduation.
But they deny such actions were unconstitutional.
The district also rejected Lohr’s claim that someone informed a potential employer about the situation, which he says led to a job offer being rescinded.
A district bus driver filed a second suit saying he was fired for attending a protest on his own time in support of the student. The response says the protest took place on a school day and that the district didn’t stifle his free speech rights.
Both cases remain ongoing.
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