Two years ago, Jessica Tapia lost her job as a PE teacher at California's Jurupa Unified School District. Tapia's former attorneys at Advocates for Faith & Freedom say the school wanted her to "lie to parents" about their child's gender identity, refer to students by their preferred pronouns, and allow males into female locker rooms.
The termination resulted in a $360,000 settlement in 2024 – but Tapia says that was nothing compared to last week when President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting gender ideology in K-12 schools.
"I'm on cloud nine," Jessica Tapia told Fox News Digital.
"The very thing I was fired over – the tide has completely turned. Now, it is the teacher who participates in socially transitioning a student who is going to be in trouble. Not the other way around, like it has been for the last several years," she added.
Attorney Julianne Fleischer of Advocates for Faith & Freedom are happy for Tapia.
"This is really an about-face, and the moment is surreal because she was fired for exactly the reason that this executive order was put into place by President Trump," says Fleischer. "Just by virtue of being a government teacher or being a student on government property doesn't mean that you give up or surrender your rights."
According to Fox News, Tapia now homeschools her young children and continues to share her story and counsel other teachers who are going through similar ordeals.
