(The Lion)—He wants his job back and he’s keeping his views.
A coach involved in a First Amendment lawsuit because he was allegedly fired for suggesting biological males have an advantage over girls in sports is asking to be reinstated immediately.
The request to the United States District Court in Oregon to reinstate track coach John Parks with an injunction comes just over two months after the First Amendment lawsuit was filed.
In the original lawsuit, the former coach claims “unlawful retaliation in violation of [his] First Amendment free speech rights,” because of a letter he wrote saying that transgender athletes should compete in an “open” division, not against girls.
When the coach was fired in June 2024, the Lake Oswego High School principal specifically cited the letter as a reason for his termination, according to the 48-page suit.
The letter went to the executive director of the Oregon Student Activities Association (OSAA), The Lion reported previously.
A subsequent letter by the coach went to an Oregon state senator, who previously served as chair of the Lake Oswego Board of Education, where the coach was employed.
The coach’s letter to state Sen. Rob Wagner came only after a formal investigation of the coach was underway, according to the lawsuit.
Wagner currently serves as the Senate President in the Oregon Legislature after a previous stint as Democrat Majority Leader.
Parks, who has 40 years of coaching experience, suggested in the letters that a separate division be opened for transgender men to compete against each other.
He thinks transgender athletes should compete, but stated that policies that allowed athletes “born as biological males … to compete as females … [are] flawed and posed a threat to the ongoing existence and integrity of female athletics,” according to the suit filed by his attorney at the Liberty Justice Center.
The letters generated a formal complaint by OSAA against Parks, claiming violations of the district’s nondiscrimination, hazing, harassment, intimidation, bullying, menacing, cyberbullying, teen dating violence or domestic violence policies, said an email to Parks from Lake Oswego High School’s principal, Kristen Colyer, attached to the complaint.
The same day, Colyer sent a formal letter to Parks saying his contract would not be renewed because the “preponderance of evidence” showed his actions discriminated against a transgender athlete.
Colyer also verbally advised Parks that “he had no right to send the letter to Senator Wagner,” and it was “illegal” for him to do so, according to the lawsuit.
Parks claims the letters have been misinterpreted.
“I’m a staunch defender of transgender rights. For decades, I’ve been a voice for equitable and inclusive treatment for students with a wide variety of gender and sexual identities, on the track and in the classroom,” Parks stated. “And I’ve seen that these athletic controversies are drawing negative attention to the trans community. Trans athletes have a right to compete, but their bodies have major physical advantages over other students.”
The letters, said Parks, were the result of witnessing the booing by spectators of a transgender athlete at a state high school competition, the video of which went viral when it was shared by former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines on X (formerly Twitter).
Gaines strongly opposes transgender competition against women and girls, calling for a “BOYcott” by athletes from competitions that allow transgender participation.
Also attached to the lawsuit were declarations by nine parents of student athletes coached by Parks at Lake Oswego who declared that without agreeing or disagreeing with the coach’s views, they observed Parks “displaying upstanding character and acting in a non-discriminatory manner” with student athletes.
The parents said they believe Parks should be allowed to express his views without fear of retaliation.
“School employees do not lose their constitutional right to free speech when they step onto school grounds,” Buck Dougherty, Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement. “Coach Parks faced unjust and unconstitutional retaliation at the hands of the Lake Oswego School District and School Board.”
The lawsuit is asking for a jury trial, removal of all derogatory comments from Parks’ personnel file, monetary damages and attorney fees, as well as a declaratory judgment that Parks’ First Amendment rights were violated.
The request for an injunction reinstating Parks claims that the public interest in First Amendment rights will be harmed if the coach is not immediately reinstated.