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  "path": "/news/texas-am-melissa-mccoul-lawsuit",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-05T17:34:27.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.advocate.com",
  "tags": [
    "Academic freedom",
    "Board of regents",
    "Brian harrison",
    "Children's books",
    "Children's literature",
    "Donald trump",
    "Executive orders",
    "Fired",
    "Firing",
    "First amendment",
    "Freedom of expression",
    "Freedom of speech",
    "Gender identity",
    "Greg abbott",
    "Lawsuit",
    "Melissa mccoul",
    "Policy",
    "Texas",
    "Texas a&m university",
    "Transgender rights",
    "Viral video",
    "Wrongful termination",
    "News",
    "fired for teaching about gender identity",
    "removed from their administrative positions",
    "Texas A&M professor fired over discussion of gender identity",
    "Donald Trump's",
    "recognizes only male and female sexes as assigned at birth",
    "\"Don't Say Gay\"",
    "outlawing LGBTQ+ student clubs",
    "banned professors from discussing",
    "policies",
    "Texas A&M bans teaching 'race or gender ideology' at universities",
    "executive orders against DEI,",
    "blocked by a federal court"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nThe Texas A&M professor who was fired for teaching about gender identity has filed a lawsuit against the university, accusing officials of violating her First Amendment rights.\n\nMelissa McCoul went viral last summer when a student in her literature class objected to her correct statement that there are more than two genders, resulting in her being fired and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the head of the English department being removed from their administrative positions.\n\n******Related:****Texas A&M professor fired over discussion of gender identity **\n\n\nHer lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, claims that the school not only violated her academic freedom, but \"failed to honor a single one of the due process protections\" guaranteed to professors.\n\n\"Academic freedom is under attack,\" the suit reads. \"Professor Melissa McCoul was terminated because of the content of her course; content that was consistent with her syllabus, the course description, and the approved purpose of the course. Texas A&M University ran roughshod over Dr. McCoul’s due process rights in its haste to meet Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s demand that the University fire her.\"\n\nMcCoul was fired after Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison posted a video of the incident, in which a student who was secretly recording disrupted her class by claiming the lesson was illegal under Donald Trump's executive order that recognizes only male and female sexes as assigned at birth. The student also claimed the lesson violated her religious and moral beliefs, leading to a heated exchange with another student. McCoul then asked the student to leave, as she was impeding others' ability to learn.\n\nTexas does not have a law prohibiting educators from discussing race or LGBTQ+ identities in public universities. It does have a \"Don't Say Gay\" law for grades K-12 that not only bans mentioning sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, but goes even further by completely outlawing LGBTQ+ student clubs.\n\nThe Texas A&M University System has since banned professors from discussing \"race or gender ideology\" in classrooms, though the decision was made after McCoul's firing. The Board of Regents approved in November policies for its 12 universities that mandate \"no academic course within the System may teach race or gender ideology or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity, unless the course and its materials are approved in advance by a university president.\"\n\n**Related:****Texas A&M bans teaching 'race or gender ideology' at universities **\n\nWhile Trump has signed executive orders against DEI, as well as declaring that there are only two sexes and transgender people don't exist against medical and scientific consensus, these orders are not law and have been partially blocked by a federal court.\n\nMcCoul is seeking front pay and back pay, as she was on the second year of a three-year contract, as well as compensatory damages and legal fees. She is asking for her position to be reinstated, and for the court to uphold that \"she did not violate state law; she did not violate a directive; she did not violate policy, and was, instead, terminated for exercising her academic freedom as guaranteed to her by the First Amendment.\"",
  "title": "Texas A&M fired a professor for teaching about gender identity. Now, she's suing"
}