An Iowa school district will pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by three high school teachers who were disciplined for their involvement in a student-led drag show.
Under the July 1 settlement, teachers Jill Bjorklund, Mollie Jo Blahunka, and PJ Hurley will each receive $27,700, with an additional $67,000 going toward attorneys’ fees, according to the Des Moines Register.
In 2022, Blahunka, who is queer, and Bjorklund, the mother of a transgender child, served as faculty sponsors for Gay-Straight Alliance groups at Ankeny High School and Southview Middle School.
The pair oversaw an optional after-school party for the GSA groups in May 2022. The year-end celebration included a student-led drag show featuring a graduating senior and two 20-year-old performers with the Iowa Pride Pageant.
Hurley, who is gay, attended the party at the request of the student organizers.
According to the teachers’ lawsuit, Blahunka reviewed and approved the drag performers’ songs, and the students’ families raised no concerns before the event. Attendees later told the school board that nothing sexually explicit or obscene occurred during the performances or elsewhere at the party.
“At no point during the celebration did anyone expose themselves to a student or do anything obscene, inappropriate or engage in behavior that interrupted the educational environment at the school,” the lawsuit states.
However, there was immense public backlash from conservatives and anti-LGBTQ activists after photos and videos of the performances were posted online. They accused the teachers of “grooming” children or exposing them to inappropriate content.
Following the outcry, the Ankeny Community School District called the drag show “unauthorized” and launched investigations into the teachers. They were placed on leave through the end of the school year, causing them to miss graduation ceremonies and other events.
Bjorklund was suspended for five additional days the following school year, while Blahunka was suspended for three. All three teachers were barred from sponsoring student activities, and the district threatened to fire them if they violated any additional policies.
The district also filed ethics charges against the teachers with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. The board later voted to dismiss all three cases.
In early 2023, the teachers filed a lawsuit in state court, and later in federal court, accusing the district of discriminating against them based on their sexual orientation or their association with LGBTQ people.
The teachers alleged that the community’s anti-LGBTQ backlash over the student-led drag performance led to harassment and bullying of students in both schools’ GSAs. They also claimed that the disciplinary actions “sent a clear message to every LGBTQ+ student and staff member that they were unwelcome and unsafe in their own schools.”
After years of legal wrangling, the teachers and the district reached a settlement just weeks before a trial scheduled for July 20. Beyond the financial terms, no other details have been made public.
An attorney for the teachers did not respond to the Register‘s request for comment. Samantha Aukes, a spokesperson for the Ankeny Community School District, told the newspaper, “The matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.”
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has signed a bill requiring teachers and other school employees to answer parents' questions about their children's health, well-being, behavior, and identity "completely and honestly."
Under the new law, educators must respond to a parent's written questions about their child within 10 business days without omitting any pertinent information. The State Board of Education must also update its educator code of ethics and code of conduct to reflect the disclosure requirements.
Teachers and staff who fail to respond to parental requests within the required time frame may face disciplinary action. The law provides two exceptions: when disclosure is prohibited by state or federal law, or when an educator has made a "good faith determination" that disclosure would put the student "at imminent risk" of abuse or neglect by a parent, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin. In the latter case, the educator must report the suspected risk to the local superintendent and deny the parent's request in writing.
The Fairfax County School Board has elected its first-ever out lesbian as chair of the board governing Virginia's largest school system and an out bisexual man as vice chair.
At its July 9 meeting, the 12-member board selected Robyn Lady (Dranesville), who became the first out lesbian elected to the Fairfax County School Board in 2024, as chair for the 2026-27 school year.
Lady most recently served as the board's vice chair under Sandy Anderson's leadership as chair. She also chaired the Governance Committee, where she oversaw successful revisions to the school district's grading policy. In addition, she served as the board's liaison to the School Health Advisory Committee, the City of Fairfax School Board, and the Fairfax County Athletic Council.
A Tennessee Christian school sued by a former student who claims she was barred from graduation and denied her diploma after coming out as gay has agreed to pay her $10,000 as part of a settlement.
Near the end of her senior year at Tennessee Christian Preparatory School in Cleveland, Tennessee, Morgan Armstrong, a star basketball player, came out on social media, posting photos of herself and her girlfriend, including one in which they were kissing. The caption read: "cat's out of the bag."
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