PTA president is suing me to silence my free speech on public school issues...

My husband and I are parents of six children in Murray City School District (MCSD), UT. I am a second-generation MCSD student. My dad and I attended the same schools in MCSD. My husband also attended MCSD schools from elementary through high school. We enrolled our children in MCSD because we loved the district and felt that our children would benefit as we had from attending there.

My family believes that gender is binary and synonymous with biological sex – this is our religious belief and one that we hold sacred.

In January 2021, our 3rd grader came home from school and told my husband and me that his teacher had read the class a book about transgenderism. His teacher and principals later repeatedly lied to me when I asked them about it.

We feel that MCSD should respect the beliefs of all by focusing on educating our children in academic subjects such as math, science, history, etc., rather than by promoting Gender/Queer Theories as “truth” above all other belief systems. 

We tried working with MCSD to resolve our concerns, but instead of working with us, they attempted to cover up their teachers’ and administrators’ lies by doubling down on their push for the “Equity” curriculum that included Gender/Queer Theory. They also tried to silence me by charging me nearly $10,000 for public records requests and by censoring my social media posts about these issues.

I wanted my children to be able to continue their educational journey as third-generation MCSD students, however, I felt that I had no other option but to remove my children from MCSD and begin homeschooling, which we began in Fall 2021.

In 2022, I unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Murray School Board to address these issues in the school. Even though I lost the race for School Board, as a private citizen I’ve continued to work to expose MCSD educators who promote Gender and Queer Theory, because this is a great matter of public concern. I want parents to be aware of what their children are being exposed to in public school. I also was hopeful that at some point my children might to be able to continue their educational journey through MCSD. 

As a result of my work on these public school issues, MCSD’s PTA President asserted herself onto my social media post on May 23, 2023. She claimed that she came to my social media to defend MCSD teachers, and she attempted to silence me by bullying and shaming me and my family for speaking out on these public issues in Murray's public schools. She mocked me for losing my election bid to the School Board and bragged about her PTA volunteer awards and her appointment to the position of PTA President in MCSD.

I asked the PTA President to leave us alone, but instead she escalated the harassment and intimidation by sending hurtful and personal attacks that referenced personal family issues between my husband’s parents and us.

On May 27, 2023, the PTA President again came to my Facebook page and publicly posted this comment on my post: “Just wait to see how much I can spend on lawyers to come after you.” She also publicly commented, "I will keep defending these teachers, so buckle up. Better lawyer up now, and you better have a good one."

Following her threat of litigation against us, on May 28, 2023, this MCSD PTA President then trespassed our private property when she sent seven (7) LGBTQ Pride flags to be staked into our front lawn, knowing these flags represent beliefs about gender, sexuality, and identity that are contrary to our religious beliefs! The PTA President sent a 3rd party to enter my property — with my children present — intending to mock, intimidate, and harass us! We recorded and shared this incident in a Facebook post, and the PTA president proudly re-shared it to her own page! She admitted and bragged about her trespass on my land and openly mocked me when she publicly posted the video to her Facebook page and stated: "Happy Pride to our favorite Murray citizen, April Wilde Despain!" She also came to my Facebook post of this video and commented, "Dang, you don't like my gift? I figured as much as you post Pride flags on your FB page, you would love them. Darn!" She now claims this post, which is simply a video of the Pride flags *she* sent to *my home,* and which she proudly commented on and shared to her own page, is evidence of *my* stalking of *her.*

On June 2, 2023, her attorney sent a Cease & Desist letter attempting to infringe on my constitutional right to speak out about these issues of public concern that she asserted herself into. That is, she requested that I remove all posts about her harassment toward me and about the Pride flags she sent to my home, provide an apology to her, and never post about her again.

Now the PTA President is attempting to silence me again by filing a civil stalking injunction against me!

To be clear: I did not know this person until she came to my social media and sent Pride flags to my home. My husband and I repeatedly asked her to leave us alone. She refused and continued to pour on the condescending insults and personal barbs because of our differences in political opinions on matters of public concern. In one of her Facebook comments to me, she stated: "April Wilde Despain, I came onto your Facebook page to defend educators that can't do it for themselves." Now she claims that she suffers harassment and fears for her safety because I've responded to media interviews and others on these matters. Though she claims to have filed a civil stalking injunction against me because she is in fear of her safety, her transparent intent is to infringe my constitutional right to free speech that is not convenient to her, nor the teachers that she seeks to "defend."

As part of this injunction, she is attempting to prohibit my ability to visit our local MCSD junior high, which is where my children play sports, and if I wanted to enroll my children in public school this is where some of my children would attend.

Because of the civil stalking injunction she filed against me, I am now being forced to go to court, and I cannot afford large attorney fees. I don’t have time to fight through court appearances and to go through the complex discovery process when I am homeschooling my children – and the PTA President knows this.

The PTA President is trying to silence my free speech on important issues of public concern. As one who has publicly taken a stand regarding Pride flags in schools, I have a Twitter post on this issue that has received 11.7 million views! This is colossal evidence that these are truly issues of public concern. Multiple national media outlets requested and interviewed me about these issues. Can the PTA President silence my speech on these issues because media outlets ask me about her own assertion into the political fray? I want to exercise my constitutional rights to free speech by speaking about all these issues of public concern. 

You see, on the one hand, the PTA President asserted herself into my public social media post of public concern “to defend the teachers that can’t defend themselves,” and, on the other hand, she now wants to claim that she’s a personal victim and afraid for her safety because she has received unfavorable comments and threats from other people. (Just like I have from many opposed to my views.) If the PTA President asserted herself into a matter of such huge public concern, then she should also expect the same types of rude comments and threats that I have received from others. But she cannot claim that I am stalking her or her family when I had no idea who she was before she asserted herself into the subject. I have never been to her house, I have never sent anyone to her house, work, or anywhere else, etc. I did not even know of her name or existence until this. I have never talked to her at all, ever, outside of these social media conversations which she initiated on my Facebook page.

What I'm going through now at the hands of this PTA president could happen to ANYONE. Please stand with me in defending our constitutional rights to free speech and religious freedom.

We need your help to build a litigation fund now. The PTA President’s Injunction demands that we respond to the court within 10 days. We need funds to pay attorney fees as we navigate through the PTA president’s goal to silence us through litigation of intimidation and retaliation. True to her promise, the PTA president has retained lawyers from “one of the largest and most reputable law firms in Utah state.” (Language from the law firm’s website.)

These are issues of huge public concern, and, as such, we anticipate this legal battle to be drawn out. It has serious potential for appeals along the way. Please help contribute funds to defend our children and our constitutional rights of free speech and religious freedom. We will provide transparent accounting for how these funds are used after all litigation has concluded. Any money not used will be transparently donated to charity.

Thank you.

https://twitter.com/AprilDespain

https://www.facebook.com/AprilWildeDespain

https://www.instagram.com/april_despain/