Posted on 08/20/2026 7:46:36 AM PDT by Morgana
I am a Portland mother of three. My oldest son, now 26, attended Lewis Elementary and had such a positive experience there that my husband and I built our home only blocks from Lewis so we could send our two younger children there as well. Lewis wasn’t just our neighborhood school. It was the school our family already knew and trusted.
I’ve lived my entire life in Portland, Oregon. I am also a Christian, and I believe parents have the right and the responsibility to know what their children are being taught. I never imagined that asking would get me banned from my children’s school.
It began when my 11-year-old brought home an “identity flower” assignment requiring him to identify his gender and share his answer with his class. I had received no advance notice and no opportunity to excuse him from an exercise that conflicted with my beliefs.
So, I did what parents do when they don’t understand something happening in their child’s classroom: I asked.
When I requested a meeting with the principal, I arrived to find three additional staff members waiting for me, including both of my children’s teachers and a school counselor. My questions were hardly revolutionary: What did “gender” mean in this assignment? What had the children been taught? Why hadn’t parents been informed?
At one point, my son’s teacher raised her voice and demanded, “Why do you need to know?”
Because he is my child.
It remains astonishing to me that this required an explanation.
The materials I eventually obtained only raised more questions. They instructed children to consider what gender “feels right” to them that day and suggested that the answer might later change.
People can disagree about whether that belongs in an elementary-school classroom. What should not be controversial is a parent’s right to know it is happening.
I joined the PTA in part so I could raise these concerns there, but when I asked to speak, I was prohibited from doing so. With that avenue closed, I wrote an open letter to other parents and distributed it peacefully from a public sidewalk outside the school.
Then came an argument with another parent during pickup. His wife and I had been speaking respectfully when he interrupted us, repeatedly shouting, “White people are disgusting!” within earshot of children. I called his comments racist, used language I regret, and walked away. I did not threaten him. I did not assault him. I was not arrested.
The next morning, police officers came to my home.
In front of my neighbors, they handed me an order barring me from my children’s school for one full calendar year for allegedly harmful and threatening behavior.
The man who raised his voice at me, to my knowledge, received no trespass order.
The principal then emailed the school community, accusing me of “harassment, intimidation, and threatening behavior” and referring to my views as “hate speech.” Parents were told to report me if they saw me on campus.
I appealed. Portland Public Schools (PPS) gave me a 30-minute Zoom “hearing” conducted by a panel consisting of two janitors and a basketball coach. One panelist emptied garbage cans while I spoke. No witnesses were called, and no meaningful evidence was presented.
They upheld the order, and because they did, I missed my son’s fifth-grade graduation.
Children get one fifth-grade graduation, and parents get one chance to be there for it. Other children looked at their mothers when they crossed that stage. My son looked for me and saw an empty chair.
PPS wasn’t finished.
When I later objected publicly to how I had been treated, the district threatened something far more consequential: it threatened to bar me permanently from every PPS property.
My daughter still has years left at this elementary school, and my son is beginning middle school. The message was difficult to misunderstand. Continue speaking, and you will be excluded from their schools forever.
So, I stopped.
That is the part of this story that should concern people regardless of what they think about gender, politics, or me.
Government doesn’t have to duct tape someone’s mouth shut to silence her. It merely has to make the price of speaking high enough. For me, that price was the possibility of losing access to my children’s schools forever. And for a while, it worked.
But parents do not need the government’s permission to ask what public employees are teaching their children. We do not surrender our right to criticize public officials when we enroll our children in public schools. Disagreement does not become “harassment” simply because officials find the speaker difficult or her opinions unwelcome.
That is why I am suing PPS.
I’m not asking a court to agree with my opinions. I’m asking the court to affirm that government officials cannot punish parents for questioning them, and that access to our children’s education cannot depend upon saying only what those officials want to hear.
I cannot get my son’s graduation back. That day is gone. But I can refuse to let fear silence me.
“My daughter still has years left at this elementary school, and my son is beginning middle school....”
Why?
Stop complaining...
When you stick your finger into the flame, expect to get burned...
Solution?
Simple, just move or homeschool your school’s children...
Live within a communist community; do not complain about the usual results...
My son’s wife attended an event related to her business and asked a current school principal about sending her children to schools in Bend, Oregon. He said he would definitely not want his children or grandchildren involved in public education here.
A couple from my son’s church was informed that based on a survey given to entering middle school children, their son could benefit from the LGBTQ+ club. They were called repeatedly and always refused. Finally, they asked if they could visit a club meeting and see the curriculum. The school answered no to both requests. The next call was from the State of Oregon expressing their concerns. The couple immediately quit their jobs and moved out of the state.
The school library in Taft, Oregon has a Gender Affirming Closet. What this means is that there is a room full of clothes, makeup, and accessories for students to request. Many students who think that are transgender and/or nonbinary are not supported by their parents nor can showcase it with their daily clothing choices. These students are able to go into the closet and take anything that they may need to identify however they are comfortable within their clothing. It has makeup brochures and different resources that they can reach out to.
McMahon needs to starve public school education. Make it illegal to be a public employee of any strip and join a union.
Think of all the terrorism and violence in Portland and the Portland police come to a house over this? I would have told the cops, “Arrest me. Take me to jail. I will bring a federal civil rights war against all of you people you won’t believe !”
It would be easy to make national fools out of these lunatics.
Americans literally need to DECLARE WAR on these woke jackasses ! No negotiation ! No retreat ! There is no middle ground with people who deny biologic differences between males and females. They are nuts !!
If you don’t fight these people to your complete victory, you deserve the ruthless tyranny they will impose.
Move to Alabama. Problem solved.
Even Mississippi would be better.
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
It truly is a hedonism cult. Too bad us Christians aren’t as committed to promoting our beliefs as the leftist cult is about promoting theirs.
If you’re a Christian living in a hell-hole like Portland, you should homeschool. This person lacks discernment.
Back in the day, sixth grade was in elementary school where it belongs.
When we had problems with bullying, my mother went to the principal to get things settled. The school eventually got rid of the chief troublemaker, and sent a special official to warn the whole class not to make any trouble in the future.
That’s the way things should be handled! Parents who stand up for their children should be honored, not punished!
My wife is from Seattle. I retired from the Army and settled there. I stayed for 15 years and was going crazy. My wife retired from her bank job, and out we went, down to my home state of Alabama. My best friend still lives up there in Olympia, with his son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren. He was complaining to me recently about the girls’ school. I told him he had two choices: either leave WA with his family in tow or homeschool the girls. I warned him that those little sweethearts will only be indoctrinated in the liberal, homo, WXYGKMONOP+ lifestyle and become good little rioters and zombies of the left.
Actually, I don’t think that is good enough. I would give every person involved, including the police officers that participated 2 years in jail for Abuse of their Authority and various Civil Rights violations.
Too bad that somebody like Chuck Norris wasn’t one of those parents questioning school officials. Somebody in that school administration might have paid a high price.
That's child abuse.
Why didn’t she immediately pull her kids out of that school?
When my kids were young, my son was having some issues with the school. We talked with the principal, but I wasn’t satisfied with her answer. I wasted no time. I talked with my son to understand his side. But questions still lingered. I then immediately pulled all my kids out of the school and enrolled them in a private school.
A couple eyars later, again my son was having trouble being taunted and teased. By this time our daughter was old enough to describe what was happening. We confronted the school and they put him in a group to help them cope with bullying. They did NOT do anything to the kid that was bullying him. AGAIN, I pulled my son and daughter out of the public school and put him into the private school. Magically, the bullying problem went away.
Belly of the Beast
Way to go!
Not here in Maryland. Even the muslims had to sue. It was one thing the muslims and Christians teamed up on.
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