Teachers Can’t Plaster Walls With Pride Flags, Second Circuit Rules
A Biden appointee affirmed schools can put reasonable limits on employees using classroom space to promote sexual ideology to kids.
Public schools can prohibit teachers from plastering walls with LGBT pride flags, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week.
Three teachers at Connetquot Central High School in Bohemia, New York, challenged school officials who asked them to remove “pride flags” and “pride stickers” in a classroom and on classroom doors.
A three-judge panel, led by lesbian Biden-appointee Judge Alison Nathan, ruled that the stickers and flags amounted to government speech.
“Under Garcetti v. Ceballos…and its progeny, when public employees’ speech ‘owes its existence’ to their ‘professional responsibilities,’ the Government—their employer—can control the content of that speech without implicating their First Amendment rights,” Judge Nathan (pictured) wrote.
The Garcetti case, decided in 2006 by the Supreme Court, is the primary case addressing government employees’ speech.
Officials tried to reach a compromise with the teachers. Math teacher Sarah Ecke hung two pride flags until students complained. The school offered her a compromise: she could put up a sign stating, “This is a safe space to be who you are.” Ecke, to her credit, also had an American flag in the classroom. Importantly, officials allowed her to keep the older LGBT flag up.
“Ecke did not take down the progress pride flag. But she did tell two other LGBTQ+ teachers—Christopher Dolce and Shinaide McAleavey-Polley—about the District officials’ directive,” Judge Nathan wrote.
The “progress pride flag” refers to the new flag that includes white, pink, blue, and brown colors.
Below is what Ecke hung up, taken from the court ruling.
The other two plaintiffs had pride stickers on their doors, which a student subsequently covered with American flag stickers. Plaintiffs argued that sports flags and a French flag in a French classroom were allowed to stay up, indicating animosity against them for their sexuality and views.
Judge Nathan and her peers dismissed those arguments, concluding:
In short: the teachers cannot state a First Amendment viewpoint discrimination claim against the District, the Board of Education, or individual District officials because the pride flags and stickers they displayed on their classroom walls and doors were speech that “owes its existence” to their “professional responsibilities.” Garcetti, 547 U.S. at 421. As a result, their First Amendment rights were not violated when they were ordered to remove them.
Attorney Laura Powell praised the decision, particularly Judge Nathan’s ability to put aside her own “identity” to make a good ruling.
The Second Circuit rules that public school teachers have no First Amendment right to hang Pride flags in their classrooms. 🙌
“The opinion was authored by a lesbian Biden appointee,” Powell wrote. “Refreshing to see a youngish judge who isn’t entirely beholden to ideology and identity!”
The opinion was authored by a lesbian Biden appointee. Refreshing to see a youngish judge who isn’t entirely beholden to ideology and identity! pic.twitter.com/3LDRXYppTi
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) September 2, 2026
Liberals may argue that teachers who are LGBT or support those sexual orientations are being targeted. But to be fair, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled several weeks ago that a school social worker could be prohibited from displaying a Matt Walsh book critical of gender ideology
Conservatives may be open to a compromise where the overwhelming majority of liberal public school teachers are prohibited from forcing sexual ideology onto kids in exchange for a handful of right-leaning educators not displaying their Matt Walsh books.
[Featured image credit via Wikimedia Commons]
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Well, that’s deserving of a nice big hearty Nelson Muntz style “HA HA” directed at the agenda pushers!
On the subject… anyone else hate the progressive pride flag with a passion? It looks like someone literally wiped their ass with the rainbow
If you or I were to walk up to a child and begin speaking with him/her about a sexually explicit topic we would rightly expect handcuffs, trials, prison and registration as a pedophile for the remainder of our lives.
Please explain to me how this is any different? And furthermore, please reconcile this with the recent uptick in teachers being prosecuted for sexual encounters with underage students?
I pulled my children out of public schools because things got so bad that I couldn’t in good conscience allow them to attend. My wife & I homeschooled them thereafter.
If I had children today, I wouldn’t allow them to darken the door of a public school… EVER.
It’s well past time to outlaw public sector unions, reel in out of control spending and give educators a clear warning that any mention of sex is off limits.
Why do we put up with this 💩?
Why do we put up with this 💩? The public has embraced the Gospel of tolerance. Either we correct of down we go.
or
A pride flag is not sexually explicit. Books featuring same-sex couples are no more sexually explicit than similar ones featuring mixed-sex couples. There is nothing inappropriate about exposing children to either, and this decision doesn’t say otherwise. But in a school classroom (as opposed to a university) it is the school that gets to decide that, not the individual teacher.
When you speak for the government you must say what the government wants you to say, and reflect government policy whether you agree with it or not. That’s what it’s paying you to do. You can express your own opinions when you’re off the job.
“ A pride flag is not sexually explicit.”
I see.
So to what does it refer then?
Pride in what?
Homosexuality, right?
Explicitly homosexually.
Or have I been living under a rock?
Note well that I do not want teachers discussing *any* aspect of sexuality with students as I believe that is the sole domain of parents.
Period.
Homosexuality is not sexually explicit, any more than heterosexuality is. And heterosexuality is everywhere. If you’re okay with a teacher exposing your child to the concept of a mixed-sex couple — and how can you not be okay with that, since they’re ubiquitous? — then how can you object to the teacher doing exactly the same thing with a same-sex couple? If talking about a mixed-sex couple is not sexual — and it isn’t — then neither is talking about a same-sex couple. The pride flag simply says gay people are entitled to the same respect and dignity as straight people; and that’s a fundamental principle of our republic.
I agree.
My objection to the gay pride flag in a classroom is that it is a symbol of a political ideology. The only political ideology that should be represented by a flag in a government classroom is “Americanism.” This has the advantage of being just about anything you please, because Americanism promotes (actual) diversity of thought and belief. (As well as being a promise of a “safe space” where everyone is equal under the law. Much of the world believes this, which is why so many people want to come here.)
I’m going to make an educated guess and say that he doesn’t need a teacher to introduce his children to the concept of a heterosexual couple since he and his wife have been the example for their own children their entire lives. The same would be true of the children of a homosexual couple.
You’re an idiot, Milhouse. Occasionally you make a useful point, but let’s just be honest: you’ve always been a pompous, arrogant ass. And I hope you’re not in a position to take your thoughts to their “logical” conclusions, so that you don’t destroy Christendom just so you can brag that you’ve maintained your “consistency.”
If you think it’s acceptable to talk about homosexual ‘couples’ then you have to defend the right of folk to talk about man-boy love because so long as the conversation isn’t explicit …
The fact is certain things are placeholders for certain actions, and those actions are unacceptable. Either homosexuality and pederasty are acceptable, or they are not. Feel free to argue for or against them, just be consistent.
The only disagreement I might have is that discussions of the topic lgbt etc is inappropriate for elementary school age children. 7th grade should be the earliest
The sexual element of the LBwhatever flag is not quite the question to be asked in my opinion. The question is whether public school teachers (while acting in their role as teachers in their place of employment) are permitted to actively advocate for a specific definable social or political movement or belief.
For example could a particularly devout et al Catholic put up a picture of The Virgin Mary and advocate for and educate students in Catholicism? There are obviously other examples farther from the accepted norm that I could use, but this suffices to make the point, I think.
In my opinion- and the courts- a teacher is to teach what they are paid to teach and not inject their personal beliefs into the environment unless the school specifically approves them.
Exactly. In this case the school doesn’t approve, so that’s the end of it. But if the school does approve, it’s entitled not only to allow but to require teachers to put up this flag, and to teach children about the existence of various kinds of families, all of which deserve the same respect. That’s all anyone is teaching young children about it.
The example of a Catholic image is inapplicable, because a government school is not allowed to endorse a religious belief, so it can’t allow teachers to display it, let alone require them to do so. But governments are allowed to have non-religious opinions, and to have their employees speak those opinions.
See I dispute that. Government schools are not permitted to prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge free speech. So long as the school is not imposing Catholicism on the students – and a single image does not do that, then it’s fine.
A government school is not however entitled to impose homosexual doctrine and dogma on the student body. That is a 1A violation. Remember lifestyle choice generally directly conflicts with religious values, and proselytising homosexuality etc conflicts with the no establishment of religion bit.
Except it explicitly refers to lifestyle choice. Likewise books featuring homosexual characters are explicitly referencing a lifestyle choice.
To argue that lack of explicit content means X is acceptable is an argument that Nazi flags and KKK costumes must be accepted and protected because in isolation they’re fine.
Now how many modern Democrats do you think would support that argument?
I suggest that we call these schools government schools rather than public schools. The nomenclature is more indicative of reality.
Some will hang their flags nonetheless and likely get away with it.
If you mean they’ll do it against orders from the school, then why do you think they’ll get away with it?
Of course if the school is fine with it then there’s nothing wrong and they wouldn’t be “getting away” with anything.
And of course if the school orders teachers to put up the flags then they must do so whether or not they agree. It’s the school’s classroom, not theirs, and the school like any government entity is entitled to express its own opinions.
Put them in prism.
Anyone can fly whatever flag they wish …on their own dime, their own time and on their own property or even in a lawfully permitted parade down ‘Main Street’. Nobody is getting their 1A rights suppressed here.
And that “anyone” includes government entities, which have the same freedom of speech as individuals do, and are entitled to have their own opinions and to have their employees who speak for them express those opinions whether the employees themselves agree with them or not.
Universities are different because the law presumes that everyone knows university teachers speak only for themselves and not their employer.
Yep. The employers, all of them, get to determine the leeway for the speech content of their employees while on the clock or while representing the employer …particularly gov’t employers of any stripe.
It’s good that courts are treating this shit like the left demands they treat religious symbols in school!
Teachers should stick to teaching whatever subject in which they specialized. Many can barely or not even do that but have taken it upon themselves to be child psychologists or to push outright degenercy on a captive audience.
When we send our children to Caesar to be educated, don’t be surprised when they come home Romans.
Only a fool would let his enemy teach his children.
–MALCOLM X
Did I miss something in the article?
What subjects were this teachers’ teaching?
What does that flag have to do with the subject being taught?
I have been out of high school for more than 55 years, and the only thing I remember is a USA flag and a blackboard in the classroom.
That was my thought as well.
What does a “pride” flag have to do with math?
I taught math part-time for over ten years, and not once during that time did I ever need a “pride” flag to discuss algebra, trig, calc, etc.
The only reason for that particular flag is to signal – either “virtue” signal (rich that a flag that’s come to represent perversion is used to signal supposed “virtue”) or signal that the teacher’s in your corner if you are interested in perversion.
Well, you know, there was that time there were those stinky dead frogs in there. Gross!
The decision notwithstanding, I’d love a blow-by-blow description of exactly how this case got “coincidentally” onto the docket of a lesbian Biden judge.
Easily. Weren’t all Biden judges lesbians?
My comment from TWO DAYS AGO:
Teachers aren’t supposed to teach, remember?
The entire edifice of Government Schools (never call them “public schools, for obvious reasons) needs to be razed to the ground, the earth salted and a nuclear waste disposal site erected over the remains. Any good, normal care-about-the-kids type teachers who get displaced, sorry. Should have seen something and said something.
Reminder: Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Damn … don’t these teachers have more than enough appropriate subjects they simply don’t have the time to cover that there’s never a need to bring up this inappropriate garbage?
FINALLY. Thank you, Second Circuit! It will be challenged but kids today can learn ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, etc.) The LBGTetc. community stole the prism colors (for some people God’s Rainbow) and omitted one of the seven.
God only put six colors in the spectrum. Newton stuck “indigo” in because in addition to being one of the most brilliant people in history he was also a total nutcase, obsessed with numerology, and was convinced that there had to be seven colors in the spectrum for the same reason that there are seven planets, seven days of the week, seven notes in a scale, and there are numerous sevens in the Bible. Six just did not make sense to him. So he “found” a color between blue and violet.
I can remember the first time I read about adding him adding indigo. It was my first real experience with the concept of genius being one step away from insanity.
Technically there are millions of colors in the electromagnetic spectrum visible to the human eye, aka rainbow.
Also technically, light rays have no color, color is what we perceive when light enters our eyes. Some people, and animals, see more, or less, of the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum.
All colors can be made with three primary colors, but the primary colors of light and pigment are different.
Newton initially represented the rainbow with five colors, then added orange and indigo so the intervals of colors would correspond to the intervals of musical notes and the days of the week. Given we can see millions of colors in the spectrum, finding colors is a snap, so whether Newton’s representation was nutty or scientific is debatable. Could be both.
Likewise, the rainbow flag is a curated, symbolic representation of a rainbow to illustrate an idea. It’s not a real rainbow.
It’s a spectrum so is any number actually correct? While 7 symbolises completeness, perfection, and God, 6 is associated with imperfection, human weakness, the Mark of the Beast, and I thought Satan, but mayhaps I’m mistaken about that? The point is lifestyle choicers chose as a symbol a 6 line version of the sign of God’s promise not to wipe out all life again via flood. Since God wiped out mankind because of sin, and homosexuality is abomination meriting death according to both OT and NT …
FWIW it looks like Newton added both orange and indigo to his original 5 stroke spectrum.
Schools should be teaching history (real), the Constitution, reading of works by real authors, composition of declarative sentences, arithmetic / algebra / geometry / trig / calculus, daily-life things like how to balance a checking – and- debit card account, and HOW to think (not what.
Bring back shop, bring back home ec. Open both to boys and girls. My auto shop teacher expressed it well: girls drive, boys cook.
Items like sexuality, political views, or the latest trends in fear-mongering like global warming – cooling – climate change should be left out entirely.
Declarative sentences are a grammar thing right? Do school actually teach grammar? Either mine didn’t, different schools teach it at different levels and I kept missing the right grade, or students are assumed to learn the rules of grammar without ever explicitly being taught.
This outcome is very unusual for the 2nd Circuit. It will cost them several points in the ongoing American Woke Jurist competition. The 4th Circuit may soon pull ahead of the 2nd Circuit. Kalshi didn’t see this one coming.
I call it the Culture Marxist flag
That’s tame compared to what I call it.
I’m so damn tired of “Pride” and “BLM” flags being treated as allegedly universally approved icons/standards, by the vile Dhimmi-crats. Both flags are overtly leftist political symbols and speech.
Recall that the wretched and incompetent Biden-Harris Administration ordered U.S. embassies to display “Pride” flags on their outside walls, in an utterly disgraceful display of political kowtowing and diplomatic arrogance and insensitivity.
WhackAmole. Why not solve the problem entirely by removing your children from the Government Schools?
There is no end to the list of inappropriate things with which they can indoctrinate your children.
Clearly why scores are down in school,
Nothing of importance is being taught
If they got rid of the pride and pro-minority materials in the Multnomah County libraries, there’d be a bigger echo than the Grand Canyon.
Nail the teachers to the wall instead of the flags.
Put them in prism.