A teacher from Long Island has found herself in a hefty lawsuit from the parents of a nine-year-old girl who is alleged to have become confused about her gender due to the teacher calling her by using male pronouns. According to the lawsuit, Debra Rosenquist, who has been teaching 5th graders at the Terryville Road, began using opposite gender pronouns towards the girl just under two years ago and referred to her as “Leo.”
While it’s unclear why Rosenquist was using male pronouns when she was clearly aware of the student’s gender, by January 2022, things had taken a turn for the worse when the nine-year-old drew a picture of a girl along with the message, “I wanna kill myself,” prompting the parents to be called into the Terryville Road Elementary School.
The principal had told the parents how their daughter had complained about being confused about her gender identity following months of Rosenquist’s remarks which left the minor to think she may actually be a boy.
The parents became worried for their daughter’s mental well-being when they had come across complaints about Rosenquist’s teaching on Facebook, with the lawsuit noting that the comments made about her should have been enough to have had the school district intervene — but they didn’t.
The parents of the young girl claim they then came across a social media post about Rosenquist, accusing her of telling children in the classroom to “try being gay” or going by pronouns of the opposite gender. She’s also said to have written an LGBTQ+ book for her students called “I Am Neither,” which parents are said to have had no idea about.
The parents don’t believe that their daughter had told her teacher to call her by the name “Leo,” but they did recall a friend of hers using it to reference her astrological sign.
Court docs further claim that another parent had a meeting with the principal where they were told that the investigation performed into Rosenquist’s teaching practices had not been handled properly. “It was clear the investigation was superficial at best,” the lawsuit alleges.
The nine-year-old’s mental health had taken its toll due to the pressure she received from her teacher who allegedly wanted her to identify as transgender, the filings boldly claim, further adding that she’s even been singled out by her classmates becsause of Rosenquist’s alleged comments.