WY Hate Pastor Wins Right To Harass Queer Students

Wyoming Public Radio reports

A Laramie preacher has won a federal lawsuit against the University of Wyoming (UW). He had sued the university for infringing on his constitutionally protected free speech rights.

Last December, Laramie Faith Community Church Elder Todd Schmidt displayed an anti-trans banner in the UW student union, identifying an individual transgender student by name. The university banned him from tabling for one year, alleging that he was harassing the student.

Schmidt sued UW on First Amendment grounds. He won a preliminary injunction that has already let him return to the student union. Last week, both parties agreed to a judge’s order, bringing the case to a close. UW will also pay Schmidt $35,000 for attorney fees and expenses.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports:

Schmidt’s presence on campus has stirred up other issues. A few days after he posted the sign, he received a trespass warning from police because he showed up in his car outside of a sorority that admitted a transgender student. In February, Schmidt told the Star-Tribune that he was in the area because he was making a DoorDash delivery there. He then rang the doorbell of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house with the intention of having “a conversation” with sorority members. The University of Wyoming listed “multiple complaints,” as one of the reasons for the one year suspension, the lawsuit states.

From the university’s president:

In our nation, we must accept that we’re likely to hear and read things that are offensive to us — sometimes deeply offensive. I reiterate, and the working group acknowledges, that there are legal limitations to free expression on our campus.

But feeling uncomfortable or offended — and, in many cases, even feeling unsafe — is not, in and of itself, grounds for stopping speech.

We live during a time when political and social divisiveness seems to be tearing apart the very fabric of our society. We can’t let that happen. Nor can we depart from the principle of free expression that has been part of our nation’s foundation from the beginning.

Anti-LGBTQ preacher wins free speech lawsuit against UW. The university will pay Schmidt $35,000 for attorney fees and expenses.https://t.co/AYsEg3wPZE

— Jeff Victor (@JiffleBall) October 31, 2023

A proposed settlement between University of Wyoming officials and Todd Schmidt says the college won’t censor Schmidt’s speech on a transgender sorority member and will pay $35,000 for his legal fees.https://t.co/mphPLsotGD

— Cowboy State Daily (@daily_cowboy) October 27, 2023

Todd Schmidt, a Laramie church elder who called out a transgender student by name on a sign, is back presenting in the University of Wyoming student union after a recent injunction lifted a ban on him being there.https://t.co/REcnetoG56

— Cowboy State Daily (@daily_cowboy) September 8, 2023

Police issued church elder trespass warning outside sorority days after UW sign incident https://t.co/TNawRE5Zes

— Casper Star-Tribune (@CSTribune) February 15, 2023

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