Mother no longer banned from her kids' elementary school after speaking out against LGBT lessons

Portland Public Schools has agreed to revoke an order barring a Christian parent from school grounds after she raised questions about the use of LGBT lessons at her children’s school. 

Under the terms of an order signed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, PPS has agreed to withdraw a “Trespass Notice” barring mother of two district students Allison Roberts from her children’s school, as well as a “Formal Warning” issued against her.

Under the agreement, the district will also allow Roberts to “request for both her children an exemption from all LGBTQ2SIA+ curriculum and learning activities.” The district also promised to notify her if one or both of her children begin to experience gender dysphoria or identify as a member of the opposite sex.

The district acknowledged her First Amendment “right to peacefully distribute literature in a public forum such as a sidewalk and criticize PPS officials and policies.” The district also committed to reviewing its harassment policy to ensure it complies with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Monday’s order comes two months after Roberts filed a complaint against PPS, Oregon's largest school district and two of its administrators. She was banned from her children’s school, Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, after she distributed a letter to other parents raising concerns about the inclusion of LGBT ideology in the curriculum. She was also involved in a verbal altercation with a fellow parent over her support for President Donald Trump in 2024, after that parent asked her which candidate she supported.

She became concerned after the school displayed an Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag. Her 11-year-old child was also assigned an “identity flower” activity that asked students to identify and publicly discuss their gender, without first notifying parents about the lesson or giving them the chance to opt their children out of it.

The trespass order accused Roberts of engaging in “harmful, unlawful and/or disruptive behavior” while “threatening and intimidating members of the school community.” District leadership told Roberts she violated its harassment policy, while the school principal sent an email accusing Roberts of engaging in “harassment, intimidation, and threatening behavior” as part of a pattern of “animus and harassment targeting vulnerable members of our community” over the past several months.

Roberts distributed a second letter to parents at the school through a friend, accusing school and district leaders of spreading “falsehoods, reputational distortions, institutional punishments, and public insinuations.” The district then warned her that continued verbal or written “harassment” would lead it to expand the trespass order to cover all district properties.

The complaint alleged that the trespass order violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It asked the court to strike down the trespass order and the harassment policy as unconstitutional. The complaint also challenged the district’s policy of not disclosing LGBT-related lessons to parents as unconstitutional, and it sought attorneys’ fees.

Liberty Justice Center, which represented Roberts, praised the agreement in a statement Tuesday.

“Portland Public Schools tried to silence a mother who dared to question what was happening in her children’s school. Now the district has agreed to withdraw its warning, rescind its campus ban, and recognize her right to speak freely,” said Liberty Justice Center attorney Timothy Snowball. “This is a major victory, not just for Allison Roberts, but for every parent who has been told to stay quiet and leave these decisions to school officials.”

Snowball also stressed that “the fight is not over” because “the district continues to defend policies that allow school officials, under certain circumstances, to withhold important information from parents about their own children.” He contends that “parents have the fundamental right to direct their children’s upbringing and education" and vowed "to keep fighting until those rights are protected.”

Monday’s agreement invited Roberts to “provide the PPS with specific, written demands for policy changes she believes are necessary to resolve the remaining issues in the Motion” within seven days of the order’s publication. The parties are scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 1.