Judge rules against teacher who was suspended for having LGBTQ+ books in her classroom
Karen Cahall argued that her "sincerely held moral and religious beliefs" include supporting LGBTQ+ kids. It didn't work.
John Russell (He/Him)
October 22, 2025, 1:00 pm EDT
A U.S. district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an Ohio elementary school teacher who was suspended for having LGBTQ+ books in her classroom.
Last November, Karen Cahall, a third-grade math and science teacher who has taught in the New Richmond Exempted Village School District for three decades, was suspended without pay for three days after a parent filed a complaint with the school’s principal and the district’s board about four “inappropriate” books featuring LGBTQ+ characters among the approximately 100 books in her classroom.
As The Cincinnati Enquirer reported at the time, none of the books – Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass, The Fabulous Zed Watson by Basil Sylvester, Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring, and Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff – featured sexual content. However, the district determined that the four books violated its policy on “the introduction and proper educational use of controversial issues,” which defines controversial issues as topics “on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community.”
In a disciplinary letter to Cahall, Superintendent Tracey Miller said that Cahall knew the books were controversial and “not acceptable” because her earlier request to have them included in the school library was denied. Miller went on to accuse Cahall of intentionally placing the books in her own classroom library without following the established approval process.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/judge-rules-against-teacher-who-was-suspended-for-having-lgbtq-books-in-her-classroom/
Pathetic.
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