Marissa Darlingh spoke out against gender ideology in schools during a feminist rally at the state capitol.
A Wisconsin elementary school counselor’s career is in jeopardy after she was accused of engaging in immoral conduct for speaking out against transgender orthodoxy in schools and cursing during a rally outside the state capitol last month.
Marissa Darlingh, a Milwaukee-area school counselor for eight years, could lose her educator license if a state investigation determines she engaged in immoral conduct during the rally. But lawyers for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty say Darlingh was clearly within her rights to speak out against a controversial ideology she believes is dangerous.
“It’s hard to imagine any more protected speech than political speech on state capitol grounds on a hot-button topic,” said Luke Berg, a lawyer with the institute.
Darlingh a gave a short but fiery speech against what she described as “gender ideology” in schools during a Saturday feminist rally in Madison on April 23, according to a YouTube video of the rally. During her roughly three-minute speech, Darlingh spoke out against hormone treatments, social and medical gender transitions, and gender reassignment surgery for kids.
Darlingh used the F-word several times during the speech, including saying “F*** transgenderism.” She also said that she exists “to serve children,” and “to protect children.”
Berg said Darlingh spoke at an open microphone during the rally, which was focused generally on feminist opposition to transgender orthodoxy.
Less than a week after the rally, Darlingh received a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the state’s education department, informing her that the agency had opened an investigation into allegations of immoral conduct against her.
According to the letter, the allegations against her are that she said “F*** transgenderism,” stated that she opposed gender identity ideology in school, stated that none of her students would transition genders socially or medically under her “f***ing watch,” and stated that she did not believe children “should have access to hormones or surgery.”
The letter stated that the department was investigating if there is probable cause to proceed with the revocation of Darlingh’s license. Darlingh also has “the option to voluntarily surrender your license and bring the DPI’s investigation of this matter to a close,” the letter states.
Berg said it appears the department is trying to stifle speech it doesn’t agree with. “It’s pretty clear that they were trying to use this threat to scare her into giving up her license,” he said.
In an email, Chris Bucher, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Instruction, declined to comment on Darlingh’s case, but said “DPI supports best practices in supporting transgender students.”
Berg noted that the rally Darlingh attended was on a Saturday, and that Darlingh was speaking as a private citizen, on her own time, and on a political topic of intense public interest. “The courts have been very clear that government can’t police speech based on its content, based on its viewpoint, and that seems pretty clearly what DPI is doing,” he said.
Wisconsin’s immoral conduct statute targets conduct, not speech, Berg added. The two examples of immoral conduct mentioned in the statute involve downloading and distributing pornography, and knowingly helping a sex offender to get a job in a school.
Berg acknowledged that Darlingh used profanity “in the passion of the moment,” and “people can have a debate about whether that went too far.” But he added that the department does not have a history of initiating license revocation proceedings against teachers who curse on their own time in a public forum.
“We shouldn’t have a state licensing agency going around and threatening people’s licenses every time they use a swear word in a public setting,” Berg said. “They clearly don’t do that regularly for everybody else.”
Berg said teachers and school employees have a right to disagree with the Department of Public Instruction or their school district’s official positions on controversial issues, “and they’re allowed to speak about their views outside of work on their own time.” He threatened a federal lawsuit if the department proceeds with efforts to revoke Darlingh’s license.