When the academic year began in late August, students immediately noticed the dozens of ally stickers were gone. MacArthur’s GSA offered small circular rainbow stickers to teachers last school year to post on their classroom doors as a sign that they supported LGBTQ students and felt equipped to talk to them if they were having a rough day, or just needed a moment to decompress. LGBTQ students are “some of the most bullied and harassed students nationwide - certainly in the state of Texas,” McMurray said, pointing to surveys showing a majority of LGBTQ students feel unsafe at school. Years of academic research show that having a GSA - which can also stand for Gender and Sexuality Alliance - is associated with a decrease in bullying and harassment of LGBTQ students, and an improvement in academic outcomes and a sense of safety for teens. One student came out as bisexual while addressing the board, while another came out as transgender. Laura Buckman for NBC NewsĪt emotional school board meetings, GSA members pleaded with the district to drop the prohibition on rainbow stickers. Rachel Stonecipher holds of a roll of rainbow heart stickers like those that teachers placed outside their classrooms at MacArthur High School. The statement acknowledged “that rainbow stickers were put up by teachers with the intent of making students feel safe and supported,” but added: “Labeling certain classrooms as safe havens for certain groups could communicate to students who do not see themselves reflected in that classroom’s decorations that they are unwanted or unsafe in those rooms.” The district has not cited any examples of students reporting that the rainbow stickers made them uncomfortable. The district strives to “provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for every student, employee and family,” the statement said. "The damage that was done by scraping them down was far worse than just never having them in the first place." In a statement, the district said that it does not retaliate against employees for expressing their personal viewpoints but district policy “prohibits teachers from using the classroom to transmit their personal beliefs.” The district declined to comment on Stonecipher’s situation or other personnel matters. “Ultimately, those same things that made us very strong supporters for the LGBTQ students are the things that got us pulled from school,” Stonecipher said of her case and another teacher who has also been removed. Last month, she was notified that the district plans to terminate her contract. According to her personnel file, which Stonecipher shared with NBC News, the district’s human resources office believed that Stonecipher had called MacArthur’s principal “homophobic,” which Stonecipher denies, and that she made colleagues uncomfortable when she shared her opinion about LGBTQ issues. Stonecipher, who also advised the student newspaper, believes she was removed because she has been outspoken in advocating for LGBTQ children and encouraging journalism students to investigate the sticker removal. “The damage that was done by scraping them down was far worse than just never having them in the first place,” said Rachel Stonecipher, an English and journalism teacher, and another of the GSA sponsors, who was placed on administrative leave in September and barred from communicating with teachers or students.
In August, the administration required that all the stickers come down, later explaining in a statement to NBC News that decorations in classrooms, hallways or offices must be “curriculum driven and neutral in viewpoint” to “ensure that all students feel safe regardless of background or identity.” It all started with teachers posting small rainbow stickers - long a symbol of the gay pride movement - outside their classrooms to show students that they were LGBTQ allies. “They’re not going to come out outright and say, ‘Don’t say gay,’” she said of the school administration, “but they’re going to make it as difficult as possible for you to be allowed to express yourself or even learn about how you feel, who you are and your identity.” Latin, a dance instructor, said she plans to resign after this school year over the district’s handling of the issue. “It’s like they’re being shadow-banned,” Christine Latin, one of five faculty sponsors of the GSA at MacArthur, said of the student group.