Roderick Theis, an education specialist with Oregon’s InterMountain Education Service District (IMESD), is fighting back after being ordered to remove three children’s books from his offices and being threatened with disciplinary action and even termination. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys filed a lawsuit on his behalf in federal district court May 21.

Theis, a licensed clinical social worker, is a Christian who “bases his beliefs on the Bible and strives to live out his Christian faith at work and in the community,” according to his legal complaint. He has worked for IMESD since 2008. Since his job involves meeting with students in different schools, he has office space in two locations, La Grande Middle School and the Elgin School District.

In early October, Theis began displaying two books at his La Grande office, on the windowsill behind his desk: He Is He and She Is She, by Ryan and Bethany Bomberger. The books explain how every child should embrace how God has made him or her to be. Later that month, the school’s principal sent Theis an email asking to discuss concerns about the books and instructing him to put the books out of sight. Another staff member had noticed the books and complained that they were “transphobic.”

At their meeting, Theis and the principal reviewed the books together, and the principal said he found nothing inappropriate or offensive in them but added that because the books included Bible verses, they could be seen as pushing a certain point of view on students. Yet teachers and staff at the school commonly decorate their offices with items that promote points of view, such as political messages.

A few days after the meeting with the principal, Theis was called to a meeting with IMESD officials. In addition to the two books at Theis’s La Grande office, the officials also wanted to discuss a book Theis displayed at his Elgin office, Johnny the Walrus, by Matt Walsh, which tells the story of a young boy pretending to be a walrus, and adults thinking that he must really be a walrus. He’ll need to eat worms, wear gray makeup, live at the zoo and have surgery to turn his feet into fins.

That meeting ended with IMESD Assistant Superintendent and Director of Human Resources Aimee VanNice telling Theis he would not be allowed to display the books in any of his offices, nor would he be allowed to “display any books that contain a view that might be contrary to someone else’s beliefs or views”—in spite of the fact that employees regularly display many books that are contrary to someone else’s beliefs or views, and that IMESD allows other employees to express views on subjects such as gender.

“This case isn’t about books; it’s about public officials telling an employee that he isn’t allowed to express a view that differs from their own,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom.

In a press release, ADF notes that the district “forbids employees from expressing a biological view of sex but permits employees to express viewpoints that a person’s subjective identity determines whether a person is male or female, not a person’s sex. The district’s censorship of Theis’ message, and the speech policy on which that censorship was based, violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

Theis commented, “Government officials are wrong to tell me I can’t express my sincere religious beliefs about male and female. Every American, including my co-workers, has the same freedom to express their own views on the subject.”

Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom