The lawsuit says that shortly after Ms. Bailey gave the slide show presentation at the end of August, the principal told her that a parent had complained she was promoting a “homosexual agenda” in class. The principal told her he did not believe she had done anything wrong, the lawsuit says.
Ms. Bailey was told the same parent had complained after she spoke to her class about the artist Jasper Johns, and mentioned that the students had just learned in the previous term about his partner, the artist Robert Rauschenberg.
Kimberly Cantu, an assistant superintendent and one of the defendants, told Ms. Bailey that the parent had said Ms. Bailey had shown the children “sexually inappropriate” images, according to the lawsuit. It also says other parents made complaints after they were “enlisted” by the first one.
Ms. Bailey was asked to resign in October but she refused, the lawsuit says.
Some parents and community members have been supportive of the couple, Ms. Vazquez said.
Mr. Smith, the lawyer, said the case highlights a cultural divide in the district, which lies between Dallas and Fort Worth.
“Local leaders tend to be old Mansfield, while the population is tending to be more diverse,” he said.
“She used age-appropriate terms,” he said, describing Ms. Bailey’s classroom presentation. “She never used the term ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian.’ She used the term, ‘this is my future wife.’ She never talked about sex or anything inappropriate.”
