Portland mom sues after school barred her from child’s graduation over opposition to gender lessons 

A Christian mother in Portland, Oregon, recently sued her children’s public school district for banning her from campus and making her miss her son’s elementary school graduation.

Allison Roberts filed the federal lawsuit on Aug. 12 against Portland Public Schools, district official Chandra Wilson-Cooper and Meriwether Lewis Elementary School Principal Deanne Froehlich.

Roberts says the district punished her after she voiced concerns about gender ideology lessons that went against her faith. The district has not yet answered the claims in court.

The problem started after the school changed painted benches from a rainbow flag design to a Progress Pride Flag. Roberts said the new design violated her Christian beliefs by celebrating transgenderism.

Her 11-year-old son then brought home an “identity flower” assignment. It required him to state his gender to his teacher and classmates. Roberts says the school gave her no warning about the assignment and no chance to excuse him from it.

Roberts met with school staff to seek answers. The complaint says one teacher became upset and yelled, “Why do you need to know?!”

Other classroom material said children could identify as a boy, a girl or neither, and could change their answer.

Roberts wrote an open letter after school officials failed to settle her concerns. She handed the letter out to other parents from a public sidewalk near the school.

The conflict grew during school pickup on Feb. 5.

Roberts says another parent asked if she had voted for President Donald Trump. When she said yes, the man yelled, “White people are disgusting!” Roberts called him racist, used profanity and left, according to the complaint.

Police came to Roberts’ home the next morning. They served her with a one-year order banning her from the school. The complaint says the other man received no such punishment.

Froehlich then sent an email to the school community. The email accused Roberts of “harassment, intimidation, and threatening behavior.” It also alleged a pattern of “animus and harassment targeting vulnerable members of our community.” Roberts denies those claims.

The district waited until after the ban to let Roberts excuse her son from more gender ideology lessons for the rest of the school year. The lawsuit says it made no such promise for the next school year.

Roberts could not attend her son’s graduation. She later handed out a second letter. The district then threatened to permanently ban her from all district property if she handed out more letters.

“Because of the trespass order, I have been excluded from elementary school events, missing my son’s graduation,” Roberts said in a statement.

The lawsuit says the district punished Roberts for protected speech and used a vague harassment rule against a view it disliked. It also challenges a district policy that denies parents notice and opt-outs for LGBT lessons. The suit says the policy may let school staff hide a child’s social gender change from parents.

She asks the court to block those rules as violations of free speech, religious liberty and parental rights.

The case follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor. The court said public schools must give religious parents notice and an opt-out when LGBT material violates their faith. Heartlander News reported on a California family who later won a similar case in court.

Liberty Justice Center lawyer Timothy Snowball said the group will ask the court to block the policy while the case moves forward.

“This motion will help protect not only Allison’s rights, but all affected families in Portland,” Snowball told Fox News.