Gay Teacher Talks About Suit Against Utah District Says She Has Received Strong Support, Wouldn’t Be Surprised If She Gets Fired

Wendy Weaver half expects to be fired when all is said and done, but if she had the past year to live again, she would still file a lawsuit against the Nebo School District.

“I do realize there’s a good chance I’ll get fired. I wouldn’t be surprised if this dies down, we settle the lawsuit and I get fired,” she told a crowd of about 100 on Monday night.

The presentation at a meeting of the Delta Lambda Sappho Union, a student club at Weber State University, was the first public speech Weaver has given since suing the district last fall.

Weaver sued the school district where she worked for nearly two decades after district and Spanish Fork High School officials ordered her last October not to talk about her sexual orientation. Her former husband, Gary, a psychologist for the school district, also was included in the gag order.

Weaver was divorced from her husband of 17 years last January. Shortly after the divorce, Weaver moved in with her partner, Rachel Smith, in a new home in Salem, south of Provo.

Weaver remains a psychology teacher at Spanish Fork High School, but was not reappointed to her post as girl’s volleyball coach this year, even though she had led the team to four state championships and been named Utah coach of the year.

On Dec. 23, a group called Citizens of Nebo School District for Moral and Legal Values filed a lawsuit contending Weaver had had improper contact with students and athletes and was practicing psychology without a license in her school classes. Weaver said she has yet to be served with the lawsuit.

“They got the media blast and that was all,” she said.

Meantime, Weaver said she has felt strong support from the community, colleagues and students. She has received two letters from prison inmates, one wanting to help pay her legal fees. Letters of support have come from across the country.

So far, there has been no hate mail and only two letters have been lukewarm.

At school, support from students has stayed strong, according to Natalie Kidman, a 16-year-old member of Weaver’s psychology class and a former volleyball player.

“We may not agree with her lifestyle, but she’s a really, really good teacher,” Kidman said.

Unfortunately, Weaver told the WSU crowd, educators always have been held to a higher moral standard. Perhaps the most painful thing to Weaver is the suggestion she does not lead a moral life.

“I’ve taught 17 years and all of a sudden I’ve become this terrible, horrible, immoral thing? The way I honestly and truly feel is that I am more moral being where I am with Rachel than in all the years I was with my husband,” she said.

Brent Kidman, father of Natalie, said Weaver’s loving and giving personality is something that has escaped the parent group organized against her.

“She would never tell you these things, but she has helped thousands of kids,” he said.

It is terrible, Weaver said, for students to know for certain she is gay and for her to be unable to talk about it.

“I know there are students out there I could help,” she said.

But perhaps the most telling words of the evening came from a man in the audience who raised his hand to say: “I would have loved to have a teacher like you.”