In Piggee v. Carl Sandburg College, 2006 WL 2771669 (Sept. 19, 2006), the plaintiff brought suit against her former employer. Plaintiff, a former instructor for Carl Sandburg College, was terminated after distributing anti-gay materials to students in her class, reported Eric J. Wursthorn for the October, 2006, edition of the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes (see page 4 for this article). According to Mr. Wursthorn’s summary of the facts of the case,

On September 5, 2002, Piggee gave a gay student, Jason Ruel, two pamphlets entitled “Sin City” and “Doom Town,” respectively. “Sin City” is a story about “a man who tries to persuade gay pride advocates that homosexuality is an abomination. He is beaten when he tries to stop a gay pride parade; he is arrested by the police; a demon urges on a minister who preaches that God loves even gay people; the man then asks about Sodom and Gomorrah; and eventually the minister repents his sin (which apparently is supporting gay pride).” The second pamphlet told a similar story.

Once Mr. Ruel reported this incident to the school, officials investigated and questioned Ms. Piggee, who agreed that she had distributed the materials described above. The school issued a written reprimand for her behavior.

Mr. Wursthorn wrote that the school “formally found that she sexually harassed the student ‘in the hopes of changing Mr. Ruel’s sexual orientation and religious beliefs.’” The school chose not to renew Ms. Piggee’s contract for further employment; nearly a year later, she brought suit against her former employer.

According to Mr. Wursthorn’s summary, Ms. Piggee’s lawsuit alleged “that the college violated her due process rights, her rights under the Free Exercise, Equal Protection and Free Speech Clauses of the Constitution, and that the College’s sexual harassment policy was constitutionally infirm.”

On appeal, Judge Harlington Wood, Jr., held for the school, indicating that Ms. Piggee’s actions in disseminating anti-homosexual literature disrupted the instruction that she was hired to provide.

You can read Judge Wood’s reasoning and the comments from other students about Ms. Piggee’s actions by clicking on the banner for the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes to the right.