An Oregon school district has agreed to pay $60,000 to a transgender school teacher for emotional distress after the teacher complained of alleged harassment by co-workers who refused to use the requested gender pronoun.
Leo Soell, a fifth-grade teacher and breast-cancer survivor, came out as transgender after undergoing a mastectomy early last year. Soell does not identify as male or female and prefers to be addressed with the gender-neutral pronoun “they,” rather than “he” or “she.”
Yet, co-workers made Soell’s life difficult by intentionally referring to Soell as “she,” “Ms Soell” or “lady” in front of parents and teachers, according to the complaint, submitted to officials in the Gresham-Barlow School District and obtained by the Oregonian. The harassment continued for over a year, the complaint says.
Someone allegedly smeared Vaseline on the teacher’s cabinets, the Oregonian reports, while another shouted insults at Soell in the school hallway. Others conspired to occupy the school’s only unisex bathroom to actively prevent Soell from using it, the complaint said.
Soell reported the abuse, but after investigating the claims, district officials found no evidence of harassment.
Nevertheless, Gresham-Barlow officials agreed to a settlement this month, compensating Soell for emotional distress and attorney fees, and agreeing to make sweeping changes on campus, including creating clear policies about transgender teachers and adding gender neutral bathrooms to all schools.
Oregon has long protected employees from discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation. District employees are legally required to use Soell’s legal name, Leo, and preferred pronouns, as a team of facilitators from nonprofit TransActive Gender Center reminded Hall Elementary’s staff during a one-hour training session on transgender issues.
“I understand that for a lot of people, trans visibility is scary because it’s new,” Soell told the Oregonian earlier this year. “I completely understand what it’s like to have things change when you don’t want them to. However, change is never an excuse to treat someone poorly.”
