Georgia court upholds firing of teacher who read LGBTQ+ book to classhttps://www.advocate.com/politics/states/georgia-court-cobb-teacher-firing 🔗Jacob Ogles (24 March 2026)
An appeals court has upheld a decision by a Georgia school district to fire a teacher for reading a book promoting LGBTQ+ tolerance.
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that the Cobb County Superior Court properly ruled that a school district was within its rights when it voted 4-3 to terminate Katie Rinderle. The board took that step after the public school teacher in 2023 read My Shadow Is Purple to her fifth-grade class. The court decision follows the Georgia Board of Education, which also upheld the firing.
My Shadow is Purple, a picture book by Scott Stuart, is about a child whose father has a blue shadow and whose mother has a pink one, but their own shadow is purple, a metaphor for gender fluidity. A description on Amazon states: "This story considers gender beyond binary in a vibrant spectrum of color."
But that's the sort of message that can get a teacher fired in the Peach state. Rinderle, though, still has the ability to continue her court fight and appeal the decision of the Georgia Court of Appeals by April 1, according to Atlanta's Fox affiliate WAGA.
During her legal proceedings, Rinderle said students in the class chose the book to read from a selection of titles she had picked up at a school book fair. But courts found Rinderle violated district policies.
