The Forsyth County School District (FSC) has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 in legal fees after attempting to ban mothers from discussing pornographic content during school board meetings.
The group, known as the Mama Bears, claimed that the school district violated their First Amendment rights by preventing them from speaking about the issue, prompting a federal lawsuit against the Georgia-based board.
The Mama Bears ultimately won the case, with the assistance of the Institute for Free Speech, which represented them in the legal proceedings.
As part of the settlement, FSC has agreed to cover the Mama Bears’ legal fees. “FCS will pay the Mama Bears’ attorneys $107,500 and the plaintiffs nominal damages of $17.91,” Fox News reported.
The case underscores the ongoing debate over free speech in public forums, particularly in the context of school board meetings, which have become a flashpoint for controversies related to topics such as critical race theory, mask mandates, and vaccination policies. The issue has gained prominence amid broader concerns over censorship and ideological bias in public discourse, particularly in the context of social media platforms and other online forums.
“Fee shifting is an important feature of our civil rights laws; and successful plaintiffs who are able to show that government officials censored them are entitled to having their attorneys’ fees paid by the wrongdoers, just like for any other form of illegal discrimination. We hope that school-board members and their lawyers take note,” Institute for Free Speech senior attorney Del Kolde told the outlet.
In addition, the court enjoined the district and all affiliated parties from barring the plaintiffs or any “current or future FCS speakers entitled to speak at an FCS school board meeting, from reading or quoting verbatim from the text of any book or written works available in an FCS library or classroom, while addressing the school board during the public-comment period at school board meetings.”
The outlet noted further:
A year ago in February, Mama Bears member Alison Hair read pages from a book that was available at her son’s middle school library.
The book, she read at the school board meeting, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” reads “I know that you give someone a blow job by putting your penis …”
Hair was interrupted by one of the board members from reading more text from the book. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” authored by Jonathan Safran Foer and published in 2005, is about a 9-year-old boy whose father was killed in the 9/11 attacks.
After being cut off by a board member, Hair demanded to use her allotted time to speak during the public comment period. The following month, she attempted to read from the same book at another school board meeting.
The board responded by banning her from attending school board meetings until she complied with school board policies, citing a violation of their public participation policy. As a result, Hair, the Mama Bears of Forsyth County, and the Mama Bears chair filed a lawsuit in July 2022 with the Institute for Free Speech representing them.
In November, a federal judge ruled that the public participation policy of the FCS Board was unconstitutional and prohibited them from enforcing it, according to the Institute For Free Speech. The judge also directed the district to lift the ban on Hair from speaking at board meetings.
“Our Board voted on the settlement agreement earlier this month,” FCS said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The payment for legal fees was handled by our insurance company.”
