2 CCSD trustees sue School Board, district over claims of free speech restriction

Two Clark County School Board members are suing their own board, alleging some of the its governance policies unconstitutionally restrict free speech.

Trustees Lorena Biassotti and Lydia Dominguez filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Clark County School District, as well as the School Board and its president, Emily Stevens.

The complaint in District Court stems from a controversial t-shirt that Biassotti wore to an Aug. 13 School Board meeting and the subsequent reprimand she received from the Board at its Aug. 27 meeting.

Biassotti’s shirt bore the logo of clothing brand XX-XY Athletics, whose company website states it aims to “protect women’s sports and spaces” and that it is “unfair and dangerous to allow males (XY) to compete in girls and women’s (XX) sports.”

“Trustee Biassotti wore the shirt because it reflects her sincerely held religious belief about the nature of humanity,” the lawsuit claims. “Members of this Board may disagree. They are entitled to think differently. They are not entitled to turn their religious beliefs into a government code violation and start ratcheting up a government-sponsored garrote on the neck of free speech.”

Biassotti, in the XX-XY Athletics shirt, posed with Dominguez for a photo Biassotti later posted on her personal X account with the caption, “Truth is not hate. Protect women’s sports from gender confusion.” Biassotti and Dominguez are both former members of the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

At a School Board meeting two weeks later, Stevens issued a formal reminder to Biassotti to follow the board’s rules. The lawsuit also alleges that, on Aug. 19, Stevens removed Biassotti from being the district’s representative on the Council of the Great City Schools, a national coalition aimed at improving education in inner cities.

Trustees had debated whether to adopt a dress code during the Aug. 27 meeting, but determined it was unnecessary.

Dominguez owns the same shirt as Biassotti “but refrains from wearing it due to fear of Defendants’ reprisal,” according to the lawsuit.

Biassotti and Dominguez’s lawsuit takes issue with two School Board governance policies — GP-2 and GP-3 — which were passed along with 20 additional governance policies on April 23. GP-2 outlines Board member conduct, ethics and operational rules, while GP-3 concerns how trustees communicate with the public.

The lawsuit claims both policies restrict trustees’ protected speech. GP-2 makes creates an unfair disciplinary process for trustees, and GP-3 gags trustees from criticizing the district, its personnel, other trustees and Board decisions, the complaint alleges.

Dominguez and Biassotti both voted against adopting the full slate of governance policies in the April meeting after failing to get the support needed to approve all but GP-3.

During the the five-hour long Aug. 27 meeting, Stevens said Biassotti’s social media post broke the board’s governing policies for protecting the rights of students with diverse gender expressions, seemingly referring to transgender students.

Late into marathon meeting, Biassotti and Dominguez left the dais and spoke as public commenters to threaten the lawsuit that was ultimately filed Monday. Biassotti said after that she intended to crowdfund to pay for the school district’s legal fees so her lawsuit does not become a financial burden for the district.

The duo’s lawsuit demands a jury trial and asks the court to award nominal damages, fees and costs to Biassotti and Dominguez. It said the current policies create “a one-way speech valve.”

“The Board may condemn a Trustee publicly, repeatedly, and through District communication channels. The Trustee may not reciprocate and criticize the Board at all,” the lawsuit states. “Whatever else the First Amendment tolerates, it does not tolerate a government body that reserves the right of reply to itself and denies it to its critics.”

Contact Spencer Levering at [email protected] or 702-383-0253.