Liberty Counsel Criticizes Florida Teacher’s LGBT Activism

Liberty Counsel has put a school district in Florida on notice that unless it stops the actions of a lesbian teacher promoting LGBT activism and discriminating against Christian students, the nonprofit group will pursue legal action.

The high school math teacher in the Tampa area has placed LGBT rainbow stickers on students’ notebooks and has prohibited Christian jewelry, Liberty Counsel said in a news release April 20.

Lora Jane Riedas teaches at Riverview High School, part of Hillsborough County Public Schools. Her lesbian partner teaches at the same school and for school spirit week dressed as a nun and tweeted that she has “a bad habit” and the point is be “creepy,” the news release said.

Claiming Christian cross necklaces are gang symbols, Riedas has prohibited at least three students from wearing them. In addition to being told to stop wearing her cross necklace, a ninth-grade student and client of Liberty Counsel faced several accusations of misbehavior after she removed the LGBT rainbow sticker from her class notebook, according to Liberty Counsel.

Riedas is part of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) Leadership Institute.

“The bullying behavior of Lora Jane Riedas is outrageous and unconstitutional,” said Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver in the news release. “A teacher cannot ban students from wearing cross necklaces when other students are permitted to wear secular jewelry. Nor can teachers retaliate against students who refuse to display rainbow stickers on their books to promote an LGBT political agenda.”

Liberty Counsel says the teacher’s classroom is filled with pro-LGBT decor and that she once tweeted “favorite queer web series for kids” from Huffington Post’s Queer Voices and stated, “Here’s how to talk to kids about what it means to be an LGBTQ ally.”

Liberty Counsel is an international organization headquartered in Orlando, Florida, that promotes religious freedom, the sanctity of life and the family.