A Riverside County school district has agreed to pay $360,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former teacher who was fired last year for refusing to comply with policies regarding transgender or gender non-conforming students, citing her Christian beliefs.
Jessica Tapia, who teaches physical education at Jurupa Valley High School, claims in her wrongful termination lawsuit that her free speech and religious rights were violated. In statements to school district personnel, she allegedly refused to use students’ preferred pronouns, refused to allow them to use locker rooms that matched their gender identities, or “withheld” information about their children’s gender identities from parents, according to the FBI. litigation.
According to the settlement signed Tuesday, the Jurupa Unified School District did not admit any wrongdoing but agreed to pay Tapia $285,000, as well as $75,000 for her attorney’s fees. Tapia also agreed not to seek future employment with the district, and both parties agreed not to disparage each other or file lawsuits in the future.
Julianne Fleischer, one of Tapia’s attorneys, called the settlement an “incredible victory.”
“Her religious beliefs were not accommodated when they could have been,” said Fleischer, legal counsel for Faith & Liberty Advocates, a Murrieta-based nonprofit religious liberty group. “We think that conveys “It sends a strong message: When you ask teachers to lie and withhold information, you pay a price.”
Jurupa Unified spokesperson Jacquie Paul said the settlement was a “compromise on disputed claims.”
“The decision to resolve this case was made in the best interest of students so that the district can continue to devote all resources and efforts to educating and supporting its student body regardless of their protected class status,” Paul said in a statement.
The case is just one of several lawsuits questioning how to balance the rights of transgender students, parents and teachers in disputes that have become a pillar of the culture war in California education.
The California Department of Education said that in compliance with California’s anti-discrimination laws and federal and state laws, a transgender or gender non-conforming student’s identity may not be shared without the student’s permission, including with parents.
But in Tapia’s case, her attorneys argue there was never a situation where she failed to comply with school and state policies because that never occurred during her tenure.
Instead, her dismissal stemmed from several social media posts that students found offensive and were reported for their content about transgender people and religion. When school officials asked her to limit her social media activity and agree to abide by certain district policies regarding the privacy and rights of transgender students, she declined, citing her Christian beliefs.
According to her lawsuit, Tapia requested religious mediation, saying the district’s policy violated her beliefs “about human sexuality and lies.”
Fleischer said her organization respects the transgender community, but the case confirms that “religious rights are not second-class rights.”
Paul said the district will “continue to comply with all local, state and federal laws, including anti-harassment and discrimination laws, to protect students and employees.”
Tapia was hired by the district in 2014, first as a substitute and then as a full-time teacher, teaching middle school and high school physical education. She was fired in January 2023, the lawsuit states.
Tapia last year publicly supported a bill that would have required teachers to disclose to parents whether their children were gender non-conforming or transgender. The bill later died in committee.
She is now helping lead a new campaign from Advocates for Faith and Freedom called Teachers Don’t Lie to support other educators who feel their faith has been harmed by school policies.
