{"id":120066,"date":"2023-01-09T00:04:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T05:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=120066"},"modified":"2023-01-10T10:46:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T15:46:03","slug":"university-of-wyoming-punishes-activist-for-calling-transgender-student-male","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/university-of-wyoming-punishes-activist-for-calling-transgender-student-male\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Wyoming punishes activist for calling transgender student ‘male’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018I have freedom of speech,\u2019 church elder Todd Schmidt said following the ban<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A Christian activist will have to wait until the end of 2023 to table in the University of Wyoming\u2019s student union due to a one-year ban for referring to a transgender student by name and calling him a \u201cmale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd Schmidt, a Christian activist and an elder of the Laramie Faith Community Church, can no longer set up a table at the public university after he put up a sign that said “God created male and female and Artemis Langford is a male.\u201d Schmidt is still allowed in other areas of campus.<\/p>\n

Langford became the first \u201ctransgender student\u201d to join a sorority at the Wyoming university after being accepted in the fall 2022 semester, as reported<\/a> by the campus newspaper the UW Branding Iron<\/em>, which like Schmidt, used the student\u2019s name. The Cowboy State Daily<\/em> reported<\/a> that the sign referred to a transgender sorority member.<\/p>\n

In subsequent reporting the campus newspaper blurred Langford\u2019s name from a photo of the display and appeared to remove it from Schmidt\u2019s quote. Langford (pictured<\/em>) is also a reporter<\/a> for the Branding Iron<\/em>.\u00a0The Fix<\/em> independently confirmed the student referred to on the blurred out sign is Langford.<\/p>\n

The Fix<\/em> reached out through Schmidt\u2019s church but did not make contact with him in the past week. He told the Branding Iron<\/em> that his comments should not qualify as harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have freedom of speech. I simply said that [Artemis Langford] is a male. Okay. There\u2019s no harassment,\u201d he told the paper. \u201cThere\u2019s no bullying. There\u2019s no slander. There\u2019s no threatening in that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

“And for me to simply state that he\u2019s a male, a biological fact. That also violates my freedom of religion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

University spokesperson Chad Baldwin declined to respond to a request for comment from The Fix<\/em> on and instead deferred to a statement from the month prior. The Fix<\/em> asked Baldwin why the university decided to ban Schmidt from tabling and about the First Amendment considerations behind the prohibition.<\/p>\n

MORE: Almost 40 percent of student identify as LGBTQ at some colleges<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have determined that these actions violated the university policy prohibiting discrimination and harassment,\u201d the statement<\/a> read. \u201cGiven this, the individual\u2019s privileges to reserve a table in the Union have been suspended for one year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university said while it does support freedom of expression, \u201ca line was crossed when a student was harassed by name.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech legal group, disagreed with the university\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Amendment protects offensive expression, and is binding on public universities such as the University of Wyoming,\u201d Zachary Greenberg told\u00a0The Fix<\/em> via email. \u201cIt appears the university banned the elder from tabling because it found his expression distasteful. This is an impermissible basis to restrict an individual from tabling on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenberg also argued that Schmidt did not participate in harassment.<\/p>\n

Schmidt\u2019s expression does not meet the Supreme Court\u2019s standard of harassment which is that \u201ca course of conduct that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim\u2019s access to an educational opportunity or benefit,\u201d according to Greenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elder\u2019s expression is subjectively offensive speech that retains First Amendment protection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

State political leaders have taken notice as well.<\/p>\n

State representative Jeanette Ward and some of her colleagues have threatened<\/a> to strip the university of some funding unless it lifts sanctions against Schmidt.<\/p>\n

MORE: UW-Madison liberals ‘physically sick’ and ‘hurt’ by Matt Walsh event<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE: Houlihan Narratives\/Facebook<\/p>\n

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