Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”

In an outrageous demand that turns the concept of civil rights on its head, a fifth grade teacher in the Tumwater School District in Washington State rejected the placement of a 10-year-old child in ‘their’ class because the student is the son of a conservative school board member who rejects transgender ideology and objects to biological boys competing in girls’ sports.

The origins of the conflict extend back to last February when school board member and father of a student in the district Casey Taylor joined a 3-1 majority in voting for a resolution stating that only biological females should compete in girls and women’s sports within the school district. The resolution was merely symbolic, since it is superseded by Washington State law which absurdly protects the right of students to join whatever team aligns with their “gender identity.” But the vote had real-life ramifications for the board members.

Fellow school board member Darby Kaikkonen, who also voted for the resolution protecting girls’ rights, was put on administrative leave and then fired from her full-time job with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), despite an unblemished work history. Kaikkonen is currently suing OSPI and its director along with the State of Washington for retaliatory termination.

The board vote in favor of girls’ rights led to months of harassment and disruption from radical transactivists at every subsequent school board meeting. Video clips show masked attendees wielding transgender flags screaming “Trans rights are human rights” to make conducting school business impossible.

In an attempt to limit the effects of the protests, Tumwater school board meetings were moved from a centralized district building to a local elementary school and security was increased, but to little effect. The actions of the transtifa activists were so extreme that in June the school board made the announcement that all future meetings would be held virtually due to, among other incidents, “Property damage; assault of an agent working on behalf of the district; exits being blocked; employee vehicles being rushed by protestors when exiting the building; and a recent threat of bodily harm against members of the school board, currently being investigated by law enforcement.”

Amidst all this turmoil, school board member Casey Taylor was facing much more personal repercussions. The elementary school principal told Taylor’s wife that one of the fifth grade teachers, a person who identifies as “non-binary” and insists on being referred to as “Mx. Thornton,” was objecting to his son, who was then a 4^th grade student in the district, from being placed in ‘their’ class for the upcoming school year.

Taylor rightly rejected this request as wholesale discrimination due to the family’s political views and withdrew their son from the district for his own well-being while filing a misconduct complaint against the non-binary teacher.

Forced by Taylor’s complaint to investigate, the school district hired an independent firm to verify the details of his accusation. What they found is deeply disturbing. The investigation confirmed that Mx. Thornton did in fact approach the school principal claiming that “they” were concerned for “their” personal safety if Taylor’s son were to be assigned to “their” class.

The investigator’s report filed in September states that:

“Mx. Thornton told me they had talked to (the principal) about their concern regarding their safety with the placement of students with parents who do not support people who are nonbinary…their concern was that Mr. Taylor may have “some transphobia” because he did not support transgender athletes. They also said they had requested a meeting with (the principal) to discuss developing a policy or practice to help mitigate the placement of students in their class who come from families that do not support LGBTQIA+ identities. They stated that their request was centered on their safety and an effort to prevent future harassment.”

Outrageously, even after this confession, the investigator called Taylor’s allegations of misconduct against Mx. Thornton “unsubstantiated.”

The investigator wrote: “This allegation is unsubstantiated because I could not substantiate that Mx. Thornton said they could not teach (student) because of different political views. Mx. Thornton did share her concerns with her peers and supervisors about not feeling safe and having possible negative parental interactions with the Taylors because of Mr. Taylor’s action on the school board. Mx. Thornton’s concerns were based on previous negative experiences with parents in general. Mx. Thornton indicated they were afraid that future parent teacher interactions with Mr. Taylor would be negative based on actions he had taken regarding transgender athletes while on the school board.”

“That is insane,” declared Brandi Kruse, a political commentator who hosts the podcast unDivided. “So this is an investigator saying a non-binary they/them teacher, fifth grade teacher, went to the principal to say ‘I want there to be a policy in place that I don’t have to teach kids whose parents are anti-alphabet mob.’ So basically, I would say that’s any conservative or moderate family. Because most conservative or moderate families don’t believe in the trans nonsense that’s being pushed and believe that, yeah, boys shouldn’t compete against girls. So this teacher—how can you keep your job after that? How can you keep your job after that, after basically saying ‘I don’t want to teach the kids of parents whose politics I disagree with?’”

“What should parents think of that who have a child in Mx. Thornton’s class?” Kruse queried. “I would pull my child out immediately. It’s very clear. That teacher is going to have this inherent dislike or hatred for my child because of my political beliefs.”

For his part, Taylor has now filed a tort lawsuit naming Tumwater School District and Mx. Thornton, alleging, among other things: “Discrimination against (student) on the basis of familial status and perceived political ideology; Improper influence of the elementary class-placement process for personal gain; Request for a discriminatory policy allowing exclusion of student whose families are perceived unsupportive of LGBTQIA+ identities; Misuse of protected non-binary identity as a pretext to exclude student; [and] retaliation against School Board Member Casey Taylor and family.”

In elections for the new school board president this month, the two-left leaning school board members tried to prevent Taylor’s election as president of the board due to an alleged “conflict of interest.” Thankfully, their attempt to blackball Taylor was unsuccessful. Let’s hope he can act to restore some sanity to the Tumwater School District.