A Wisconsin school board has terminated an elementary school teacher who tweeted in March about her disappointment that administrators had banned students from singing the Dolly Parton and Miley Cryus duet "Rainbowland." The song was deemed potentially "controversial," with WISN reporting that some "parents in the district said the decision was made because the song encourages LGBTQ+ acceptance and references rainbows."
Melissa Tempel wrote earlier this year: "My first graders were so excited to sing 'Rainbowland' for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?" Tempel tagged Parton, Cyrus, the Waukesha School District, the federal civil rights page and GSafe, a statewide organization working to create "just schools for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin."
The tweet went viral, and Tempel was put on leave in April. On Wednesday, the School District of Waukesha Board of Education unanimously voted to terminate her, effective immediately. An attorney for the school board claimed that Tempel had violated its policy of tweeting her thoughts before voicing them to her supervisors, according to WISN. Tempel's attorney, meanwhile, rebutted that "she was exercising her right to free speech."
"Rainbowland" was co-written by Cyrus, who identifies as queer. The allegedly "controversial" lyrics in this song about rainbows and acceptance include: "Living in a Rainbowland / The skies are blue and things are grand / Wouldn't it be nice to live in paradise / Where we're free to be exactly who we are."
"It's become a truism in recent years that the one thing all Americans agree on is a love for Dolly Parton . . . But now even Parton can no longer sidestep the escalating right-wing censorship campaign that is tearing through schools," Salon's Amanda Marcotte wrote in March.
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