A Southern California school district reached an agreement to settle a 2023 lawsuit from a former teacher who refused to adhere to the district’s gender identity-related policies.
The settlement amounts to $360,000, with the Jurupa Unified School District agreeing to pay $285,000 to Jessica Tapia and $75,000 for her attorneys’ fees.
The lawsuit alleged discrimination on the basis of religion following Tapia’s termination from the school district for being unwilling to comply with several directives regarding transgender students.
The directives included referring to students by their preferred pronouns, allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity and refraining from expressing religious beliefs with students or on social media.
The Jurupa Unified School District said in a statement that the decision to settle the case was made “in the best interest of the students,” so the district “can continue to dedicate all of its resources and efforts to educate and support its student population regardless of their protected class.”
The settlement agreement was finalized Tuesday. The district added that it “continues to deny any illegal action or discrimination against Ms. Tapia” and “has not admitted any fault or wrongdoing.”
Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a nonprofit law firm focused on “protecting constitutional and religious liberty in the courts,” filed the lawsuit on Tapia’s behalf in May 2023. The firm alleged Tapia was wrongfully terminated for her religious beliefs.
“People of faith should be allowed to maintain their personal beliefs without fear of losing their job,” Mariah Gondeiro, vice president and legal counsel for the group, said in a statement last year. “Jessica Tapia was not dismissed for any wrongdoing, rather, she was dismissed for her Christian beliefs. This is a clear violation of our Constitutional rights.”
As some teachers have pushed back on trans-inclusive school policies in recent years, LGBTQ advocates point to a growing body of research that has connected supportive school environments to better mental health outcomes for queer and trans students.
For example, a 2018 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that trans youth who could use accurate names and pronouns experienced 71% fewer symptoms of depression, a 34% drop in suicidal thoughts and a 65% decrease in suicide attempts. Another 2019 study from the Trevor Project, a youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, found that LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult in their life were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year.
Julianne Fleischer, legal counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom, said the settlement “serves as a reminder that religious freedom is protected, no matter your career.”
As part of the settlement, Tapia is unable to seek re-employment in the district.
“What happened to me can happen to anybody, and I want the next teacher to know that it is worth it to take a stand for what is right,” Tapia said in a statement shared by Advocates for Faith & Freedom.
The complaint stated that Tapia was a member of the school community for more than two decades. She was a student at Jurupa Valley High School, and then went on to become a physical education teacher within the district.
During a meeting with district representatives in September 2022, Tapia received a notice of unprofessional conduct that issued 12 allegations against her, including “expressing controversial opinions on issues pertaining to gender identity” and “posting offensive content on her public Instagram account,” according to the complaint.
Tapia said her faith “precludes her from endorsing policies that cause her to reject her faith, such as facilitating a student’s gender transition or withholding information about it from the student’s parents,” the complaint said.
The complaint also stated that Tapia regularly posted about her religious beliefs and cultural issues on personal social media pages but did not identify herself as a teacher or an employee of the district.
At the end of the 2021-22 academic year, Tapia was placed on administrative leave. She then took a medical leave of absence following the meeting with district representatives because the directives pertaining to gender identity caused her “to suffer severe mental and emotional anguish.”
She was fired in January 2023.
“Because Ms. Tapia was unable to comply with the directives due to her religious beliefs, she requested an accommodation from the District. JUSD refused to provide her with any accommodation and subsequently terminated her employment with the District,” the complaint stated.
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