A US federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of Roderick E. Theis II, an Oregon school counsellor who displayed books promoting binary views of gender in offices where he met pupils. The ruling matters because the majority held that an educator’s speech while carrying out school duties is government speech, and therefore not protected by the First Amendment in this context.

Theis, who had worked for the InterMountain Education Service District for more than 15 years, displayed “He is He”, “She is She” and Matt Walsh’s “Johnny the Walrus”. After the district described the display as a bias incident, it ordered their removal; Theis was later dismissed after giving the books to middle-school pupils who asked to see them. The Ninth Circuit ruled 2–1 to uphold the decision, while the dissent argued that the books were personal office decorations and warned against viewpoint-based restrictions.