MAY 28, 2025 – Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of the Northern District of California yesterday dismissed our lawsuit in defense of Mirella Ramirez, the California kindergarten teacher fired for refusing to use “preferred pronouns” to address her five-year-old female student, who was “transitioning” to a male. Here are just a few excerpts from the decision:

The individual defendants have qualified immunity because there was no clearly established law putting the individual defendants on notice that they violated the plaintiff’s First Amendment rights.

…the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit have not addressed whether a teacher’s use of a student’s pronouns is protected speech. … Given the lack of analogous, controlling precedent and conflicting out-of-circuit law, a reasonable school official would not have known that the alleged conduct violated the plaintiff’s freedom of speech. The individual defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on those claims.

Public employees retain First Amendment protection when commenting as a citizen on a matter of public concern. …even if Ms. Ramirez had been acting as a citizen, her refusal to use the student’s preferred pronouns was not speech on a matter of public concern. … Her mere non-compliance with the district’s policy does not convey a message warranting First Amendment protection.

You can read the decision in full here.

We’ll save our legal argument for our appeal to the Ninth Circuit, which will be filed shortly. But suffice it to say we are deeply disappointed with the decision, although admittedly not surprised. To suggest that a teacher’s refusal to participate in a student’s gender transition in the classroom is not a “matter of public concern” in 2025 is nothing short of mind-boggling, as is the suggestion that school officials could not be expected to know they were violating the First Amendment when they fired a teacher for refusing to engage in compelled speech that violated her religious beliefs. California law and “district policy” are irrelevant when they clearly conflict with the U.S. Constitution, which remains “the supreme law of the land.”

If necessary, we will take this fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, as it is so important that we protect the rights of teachers and students to opt out of this dangerous ideology in schools. But we can only do that with your help. As of this writing, we have raised only $3,818.10 – or about 7% – of our $50,000 goal for Mirella’s legal expenses. That means that most of the funding for Mirella’s lawsuit has come from our donor reserves (which are, of course, limited), and we have more expenses on the way. If you are able to make a contribution of any amount, we would be so very grateful. You can make a tax-deductible gift for Mirella’s lawsuit here or via mail to the address below. We thank you in advance for your generosity!

We The Patriots USA

5210 Cleveland Boulevard

Bldg. 140, Ste. 222

Caldwell, ID  83607