Mad River, Marjorie Rowland, and the Quest for LGBTQ Teachers’ Rights — A Book Review
LGBTQ people have made great gains toward social, political, and legal equality in recent years, and these gains are to be celebrated. But there also have been tremendous backlash, targeted violence, and some erosion of rights. Teachers have often been the lightning rod for attacks against LGBTQ people, as many anti-LGBTQ crusades have taken cover under the guise of protecting children. This book recounts some of the history of those battles and suggests that LGBTQ people will not have full equality until LGBTQ educators are fully accepted in schoolhouses across the country. — Margaret A. Nash and Karen L. Graves, Mad River, Marjorie Rowland, and the Quest for LGBTQ Teachers’ Rights (pp. ix-x)
Despite the broader acceptance of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning) persons in our communities and workplaces, largely achieved through years of activism and gains in legal status, LGBTQ students across the country in 2023 are experiencing high rates of harassment and poor mental health. In fact, anti-LGBTQ movements have turned away from targeting adults and are now focusing on youth with policies and legislation such as “Don’t Say Gay” school laws, bathroom bans, and laws restricting gender affirming care for youth.
Past controversies regarding LGBTQ school teachers and staff have diminished to some degree. And employment discrimination for LGBTQ individuals is now unlawful following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton Cnty., Georgia, 590 U.S. — -, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020). The story of these past controversies and their lasting effects on the LGBTQ rights movement is recounted in Professors Margaret A. Nash and Karen L. Graves’s book Mad River, Marjorie Rowland, and the Quest for LGBTQ Teachers’ Rights.
Marjorie Rowland was an Ohio school guidance counselor who identified as bisexual. Her school principal asked her to resign and Rowland refused. Instead she took her employer to court. Her legal battle ended unsuccessfully in 1985 with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding not to take her case, ending her career as a school counselor.
Rowland’s legal battle might have been a mere footnote in history if hadn’t been for the important dissent in the Court’s denial of review. Justice William Brennan, joined by Justice Thurgood Marshall, argued in his dissent that the “case raises important constitutional questions regarding the rights of public employees to maintain and express their private sexual preferences” and that it was “an issue that cannot any longer be ignored.” Brennan’s dissent went on to be cited in over 30 reported court opinions, cementing Rowland’s importance in the LGBTQ rights movement.
Mad River documents Rowland’s case and her later activism and second career. Most importantly it places her case in a history of LGBTQ rights litigation, including Watkins v. U.S. Army, 875 F.2d 699 (1989) (requiring the Army to reenlist Perry Watkins, an admitted homosexual) and Snetsinger v. Montana Univ. Sys., 325 Mont. 148 (2004) (ruling that a state university system’s policy against dependent health care coverage for same-sex domestic partners violated equal protection rights).
The book highlights additional LGBTQ educator cases and advances in educator and student rights through organizing and establishment of organizations such as the the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Nash and Graves also discuss academic freedom as it relates to the free speech issues at stake in discrimination cases. They argue, “Educational institutions claim a particular responsibility to the notions of free inquiry and debate. When school officials stifle speech and close off debate on LGBT issues, as they have done for decades, they betray the basic principles of academic freedom” (pp.58–59).
The final chapter of Mad River documents some of the lingering LGBTQ issues in schools. Fear of discrimination in employment has not ceased despite the legal protections of Bostock. Teacher education and professional development lack meaningful coverage of LGBTQ issues. Nash and Graves also note the changing political climate surrounding LGBTQ issues in school curriculum and the increase in victimization of LGBTQ students, particularly among transgender and gender nonconforming students.
Mad River, Marjorie Rowland, and the Quest for LGBTQ Teachers’ Rights is available for check out from the Washington State Law Library. You can place a hold on the book in our catalog with your library account or you can contact the reference desk at 360–357–2136 or Library.Requests@courts.wa.gov with questions about checking it out. (SC)
