Suit Over School Drag Show Complaint, Retaliation Can Proceed

A former chief engineer at a Chicago public school adequately argued that she was speaking as a private citizen when she expressed concern about a drag show at the school, a federal judge said Monday, allowing her First Amendment retaliation suit to move forward.

April Lopez worked at Disney II Magnet School through a subcontractor before she was fired in 2023, allegedly because she complained to a colleague and to the vice principal after seeing a poster in a school hallway advertising the show, according to court records.

Lopez sued the Chicago Board of Education and school officials, arguing that ...