Portland Mother Says School Banned Her After She Criticized Gender Identity Assignment

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland mother is suing the local Public Schools District and two of its officials for banning her from her children’s school premises after she criticized a gender identity assignment.

The lawsuit was filed by the Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative in the U.S. District Court in Portland on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

Allison Roberts is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, or any further retaliatory action against her for exercising her constitutional rights, from Portland Public Schools, Senior Director of Schools Chandra Wilson-Cooper, and the Principal of Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, Deanne Froehlich.

The lawsuit alleges that district officials retaliated against their client for expressing criticism over school policies and curriculum relating to gender identity.

She Was Served a One-Year Trespass Order

Roberts was served with a one-year trespass order barring her from the school premises. The lawsuit claims that the defendants accused her of hate speech and threatened to bar her permanently from all Portland Public Schools properties.

Roberts, the mother of two children attending Portland Public Schools, opposes the introduction of gender-identity concepts without parental approval.

The lawsuit states that Roberts became concerned when Lewis Elementary added an intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag to school benches.

She was also opposed to an “identity flower” assignment that her 11-year-old child had to identify and discuss. Roberts alleges that she was not allowed to excuse her child from the assignment and had not received any prior notice of the assignment.

Portland Public Schools allegedly issued the trespass order against Roberts after she distributed letters to fellow parents from a public sidewalk outside the school premises.

The lawsuit claims that this event was peaceful, and that school district officials have not explained what conduct or speech violated policy that led to the banning order.