The Rainbow Classroom Legal Fund was created after I spent the last year engaged in a legal battle with my school district over my support for LGBTQ students and families. What began as a personal fight has grown into something larger and more urgent: a commitment to stand with students, educators, and families who face discrimination simply for affirming LGBTQ youth.

For 34 years, I have proudly dedicated my life to teaching in elementary classrooms in rural Ohio. My work as an educator has always been guided by a deeply held spiritual belief: every child deserves to be respected, accepted, and loved for who they are. This belief has shaped my teaching and inspired me to create classrooms where all students—regardless of identity, background, or family structure—can feel safe, valued, and free to learn.

Across our state and nation, educators and families are increasingly being challenged, silenced, or punished for standing up for LGBTQ children. The Rainbow Classroom Legal Fund exists to push back against that fear and injustice. These funds will be used to advance equality in public education by providing financial, legal, and educational support to LGBTQ students, families, teachers, and allies who face discrimination. The fund will also promote awareness of legal rights, helping people understand what protections exist—and how to defend them—when inclusion is treated as a violation instead of a value.

This is about more than one classroom or one school district. It is about protecting the right of every child to learn in an environment rooted in dignity, compassion, and belonging—and protecting the educators and families who refuse to abandon those principles.

By contributing to the Rainbow Classroom Legal Fund, you are helping ensure that no student or teacher stands alone when they choose love, justice, and inclusion. Together, we can affirm that public schools belong to all children—and that standing with LGBTQ youth is not something to be punished, but something to be protected.

Thank you for standing with us.