After online attacks against her by a school board member, a Mesa teacher is suing

When Tami Staas was first called a “nurturer” and a pervert on a popular far-right blog, she decided the article didn’t deserve any more attention than it already received. When another post leaked her name and home address, she still didn’t feel it was worth pushing back or giving the post more publicity. And when she received threatening packages in her mailbox, she again refused to acknowledge the groups pushing the harassment.

But when they threatened her job as a teacher — a role in which Staas has worked with elementary students for more than a decade — she decided enough was enough. The difference, she said CAREFULwas that they came after her ability to make money.

“I’m tired, for lack of a better word,” Staas said. “Not only do I have to set the record straight, but it has caused a lot of mental anguish. He put me through a lot. And I need it to stop.”

Staas has been the focus of a campaign by far-right website owners and authors seeking to expose what they believe is the “sex indoctrination” of Arizona students. Indoctrination and grooming, they said, take the form of First Amendment protections such as reading queer books or public expression.

The reason Staas is in the spotlight is because of her dual role as a teacher not only in the Mesa Unified School District, but also because she leads the Arizona Trans Youth Parent Organization, a local community group that aims to provide support and resources to parents of children transgender.

In that role, she was vocal during state legislative sessions, advocating for trans students and rejecting Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne’s policies. limiting access to bathroomsand implementation a sports ban on transgender girls.

Staas said he took on the role by accident, when most of the parents who led the group before fled the state to protect their children from continued anti-trans legislation brought forth by Republican lawmakers. And even though Staas has a trans child who has already fled the state, she said leaving Arizona is not an option.

“My roots are here,” she said. “I have confidence in Arizona. I’d like to see a change and I’m fighting the good fight.”

But that belief has been challenged considerably in the past two years.

Some of the articles and posts written about Staas have been shared thousands of times online by accounts run by organizations labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups, including local ones. Mothers for Freedom chapters and TikTok libs.

Now Staas is suing people associated with those websites who are responsible for using misleading and false information in an alleged attempt to fire her, including Mesa Public Schools board member Sharon Benson, whose social media is full of posts. blaming LGBTQ+ people for poor academic performance across the country.

Misleading posts

Named in the lawsuit are Benson, Peggy McClain, Chris Hamlet and Tamra Farah as defendants. Their spouses are also listed in the application, but without names.

Peggy McClain runs Not In Our Schools, a blog targeting LGBTQ+ teachers and any school policies that affirm queer students.

Benson is an at-large board member of the Mesa Unified School District board, having won her race in the past election, and was endorsed by Chris Hamlet, a former candidate for the same board who lost his mayoral bid .

Tamra Farah is one of the leaders with Arizona Women of Actiona small collective of conservatives who have endorsed candidates who attack LGBTQ+ students and make false claims about teachers providing “sexually inappropriate content” in an attempt to stop lessons that might include any reference to LGBTQ+ people.

Farah also writes opinion stories for Free AZ Newsa conservative news site that peddles conspiracy theories about the “gender ideology” taught in the state’s schools. The site is overseen by former and current members of conservative legislative policy groups.

Stass’ civil trial Maricopa County Superior Court says McClain used “Not in Our Schools” to spread misinformation about her teaching style and curriculum, including teaching pronouns.

McClain’s blog has a modest following: A SimilarWeb report by the website shows that her posts only get about 1,000 views a month.

But her posts are often shared on social media platform X with the website’s 3,000 followers, which includes state Rep. Jacqueline Parker, former Maricopa County District Attorney candidate Gina Godbehere and current Congressman-elect Abe Hamadeh.

In several posts, McClain accused Staas — who teaches third and fourth grades — of pedophilia for hanging a Pride flag in her room and teaching the children about pronouns, specifically the singular form of the pronoun “she.”

The post references Staas and another teacher, saying they “are not shy about explaining how they influence their students in the classroom to accept their distorted view of sex.” June 30 post referred to teachers as “demonic” and, in particular, Staas as “perverts”.

That post, according to Stass’ lawsuit, prompted Benson, who was a former Mesa Public Schools teacher, to comment online that she would expect employees to “learn state standards” and echoed McClain’s claims that Staas it teaches them about sex and sexuality. her students.

On several occasions, Benson has shared anti-LGBTQ+ content from “Not In Our Schools”. On her personal social media pages, Benson also blamed transgender White House staffers for Kamala Harris’ election loss.

In August, Not in Our Schools posted how a Mesa High School teacher made a “commitment” to “listen to students’ needs patiently and non-judgmentally, to the best of my ability.” McClain’s post claimed that the pledge and the rainbow sticker together were evidence of an “LGBTQ agenda” and “sexual agenda.”

Benson also shared that post, which named Staas multiple times as the “LGBTQ leader of the district.” Benson commented that “activists are stealing the future of innocent children and causing confusion.”

In response, the Mesa Unified School District conducted an investigation and found no wrongdoing. Stass’ lawsuit said Benson and McClain received that report but continued to post about Staas in an attempt to damage his employment.

Benson was employed by Mesa Unified before retiring last year. In her position as a teacher, she was also a mandated reporter – someone who is legally required to contact law enforcement if they believe a child is being sexually assaulted or groomed. Before Staas filed his lawsuit, Benson appeared at a Mesa Unified School District board meeting in September and spoke out against the inclusion of LGBTQ+ students and said it was “inappropriate.”

But a review of public investigations by the Arizona Department of Child Safety shows that Staas was not investigated for any illegal activity and there were no complaints filed by Benson, despite her legal obligation to report inappropriate behavior.

“This is because Ms. Benson knew her allegations were not valid,” Stass’ attorneys said in the lawsuit.

After winning his election and receiving the lawsuit, Benson wrote a post threatening to write teachers for “insubordination” and how “truth and virtue will win if we are vigilant and courageous!”

Is defamation leaking?

It is unclear how the defamation suit, if Staas wins, will affect the practices of websites such as Free AZ Newswhich claims on its website to be “Source no. 1 for Arizona News and Politics”.

Not In Our Schools does not claim to be a news site, but is often cited as source material for Free AZ Newsand McClain wrote opinion pieces for the previous site.

Free AZ News is published by Arizona Freedom Foundationa Gilbert-based nonprofit that claims to promote independent and investigative news in Arizona. Although none Free AZ News nor the foundation are affiliated with, registered or certified by any news affiliates – such as the Institute for Nonprofit News, Arizona Media Association or LION Publishers – that set industry standards.

CEO and executive editor Eric Porteus was the former director of digital marketing for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that opposes LGBTQ+ rights, and has been labeled as a Christian. hate group from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Free AZ NewsThe board also includes members of conservative policy groups, including the Goldwater Institute.

A post from Libs of TikTok — an online social network account with a lot of information inspired bomb threats TO libraries and children’s hospitals— posted a opinion piece from Free AZ News written by Tamra Farah who shared Stass’ personal information, which resulted in Staas receiving threatening messages, according to the lawsuit. Farah wrote more opinion articles for Free AZ News that make false claims about LGBTQ+ people in public schools and is against them celebrating community holidays such as Trans Day of Remembrance.

Stass’ trial…which Brick Road Coffee in Tempe is helping to raise funds and offset costs— would be one of a recent spate of lawsuits filed against far-right news sites who were forced to remove articles, apologize publicly or pay damages to people and companies who received misleading and fake news articles posted about the 2020 election being “stolen” from then-President Donald Trump.

Since Stass’ trial, Free AZ News added a clarification at the top of Farah’s op-ed from August this year that the language to describe the “grooming” or “sexualization” of children is not meant to be taken literally: “The reference to the sexual grooming of to children refers to encouraging consideration of LGBTQIA gender identity. . Furthermore, the mention of sexualizing children refers specifically to encouraging children to access specific library books and nothing else.”

Benson, McClain and Farah declined to comment CAREFULhis request for comment.