'Victory' For Teacher Fired Over Topless Selfie

BELLPORT, NY — A former Bellport Middle School teacher who sued the district for gender discrimination after she said she was fired for a topless selfie announced "victory" Tuesday when a judge ruled she can move forward with a $3 million lawsuit against the school district and superintendent.

Lauren Miranda, of Mastic Beach, had taught math in the district since 2015. She said she was fired after a student acquired a photo of herself that she had taken and shared with a former boyfriend, who also worked in the district.

John Ray, the Miller Place-based attorney for Miranda, announced the "groundbreaking victory" in a federal court battle against the South Country Central School District and Superintendent Joseph Giani.

Miranda was fired by the school because the photo depicted her as a "topless female," wrote U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Brian M. Cogan. He wrote Miranda was told by Giani that she would have received tenure but she was terminated due to the photograph of her "female breasts." The male teacher involved was never disciplined, Cogan said.

Cogan said the defendants' motion to dismiss was "granted in part" and "denied in part." According to Cogan, Miranda can move forward with gender discrimination and civil rights violation accusations; three other counts were dismissed by the judge.

"Displays of male bare breasts at schools have never been punished," Ray said. "Equally, display of a woman’s breasts should also not be punished."

Cogan ruled "firing a woman because her breasts were displayed in a snapshot can be the basis for a valid gender discrimination lawsuit," Ray said. The court held "before the revelation of the image, there was no reason for defendants to terminate plaintiff's employment. This raises the question: Can a school district treat a female teacher's breasts differently than a male teacher's, at least in a school setting? ... Plaintiff has therefore pled enough facts to plausibly claim her termination was because of her gender," Ray said.

"This is a signal victory for women, and for the millennial generation," Ray said. "The prurient mindset of outdated generations is drawing to an end."

When asked for a response, Giani said, "The district has no comment."

Cogan's decision "was the first" of its kind in America," according to Ray.

Ray said he and his client are seeking to have Miranda reinstated as "a relief for the wrong that they have done." He added he expects a "battle" if there's a settlement.

He added: "I would say it's not only a victory for Lauren privately but for women in general. In the past, the previous generation perceived exposed breasts as prurient, sexual, carnal. The millennials don't see it that way."

Miranda said she was relieved by the decision.

"I feel like this is validating the fact that something wrong did happen to me. I'm standing up for myself and for other women — showing my students that when someone does something wrong, you need to stand up for yourself, even if it's a tough fight."

Miranda, who said she is now employed by a charter school in New York City, said she was "blown away" by the firing and by how the district handled it.

"My feelings were not taken into consideration. At the end of the day, they were sending a message to the community and to students at my expense."

She added, "[Women] need to stand up for each other and support each other. Make sure you bring these injustices to light, or we are never going to break that glass ceiling."

Ray spoke with Patch about the case in a previous interview.

"What's happened here is, effectively, the school administrators and the board sexualized a non-sexual situation and essentially stigmatized her and objectified her a a female because her breasts are displayed in the photo," he said. "This is a nondescript, non-salacious photo, and it was for private consumption only, for her boyfriend."

Mirando said she never intended to share the photo with any student. The photo had been taken two years earlier, Ray said.

Ray said he and Miranda have "no idea" how the district obtained the photo. The lawsuit states the district said it had obtained the photo from a student.

"She did not circulate the selfie, so why are they firing her? The superintendent told her, 'You have to leave because you cannot teach when students can sit in your classroom and look at this photo on their cell phones,' ... It was an unlawful discriminatory position."

Miranda was suspended and discharged March 28, 2019, after a meeting with district officials on Jan. 14, 2019, when Miranda was interviewed "with the intention of humiliating, embarrassing and berating her," the lawsuit says, despite "outstanding evaluations" across the board. The evaluations list her performance as "highly effective."

A letter from her attorney to the district demanded she be reinstated.

"Why should a woman be harassed in this way?" Ray said. "Men are bare-chested, there are bare-chested swimmers, men-bare chested working in ditches, cutting front lawns, there are bare-chested men on the Super Bowl. No one gets upset about their breasts. The only distinction between them and her is, they both have nipples. Hers can suckle children and his cannot. It's absurd."

He added, "The position they have taken —they're living in a bygone era. This is the millennial era, the Gen Z era; people know men and women are equal. They never got the memo on that, I guess."