"Secret Lesbian Sex Threesomes" Libel Lawsuit Against Kentucky 2022 Teacher of the Year Can Go Forward

Here's the exchange, from defendant's declaration in Hart v. Carver:

And here's the defendant's account of the facts (which is considerably more detail than the account in the plaintiffs' Complaint):

I was a classroom teacher in Kentucky from 2013 through 2022, and was the 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year. I am openly gay and left teaching due to the discrimination that I faced in the school system, including ultimately being publicly accused of "grooming" children simply because I advised a student-run LGBTQ+ group, "Open Light."

I now work at the University of Kentucky, where I am finishing a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Kentucky. I am also an author and have published poetry. My recent book, Gay Poems for Red States, a memoir in narrative poetry, was published by the University Press of Kentucky. Among other awards, it has been named Stonewall Award Winner, a 2024 Rainbow Award Book, and a Book Riot Best Book of 2023….

When I saw [a] message from "Kit Hart, American Girl," I looked at her X profile and saw that she was a chapter chair of the Moms for Liberty group. Based on news reports, I am familiar with that group and its recent controversies.

After I was served a copy of the Complaint in this case in Kentucky, I "locked" my Tweet that is the subject of the claims in this case, so that it is no longer visible to the public. As of today, a total of 134 people in the entire world had viewed the Tweet, according to analytics on the X platform. Only 14 of those people "engaged" with it, which means they were interested enough to see the entire chain and replies.

Attached as Exhibit B is a true and correct copy of selected Tweets by "Kit Hart, American Girl," that I identified that labeled LGBTQ+ individuals and supporters as "groomers" or similar terms.

The Harts sued for libel and invasion of privacy, and Friday's decision by Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove (E.D. Ky.) in Hart v. Carver allowed Ms. Hart's claim libel and false light invasion of privacy claims to go forward. The court concluded that the "belonging to a cult" claim is nonactionable opinion, but the implication of marital infidelity was actionable as to Ms. Hart (though wasn't sufficiently of and concerning Mr. Hart to allow him to sue). There's also a bit of discussion of the legal significance of "y'all":

Plaintiffs appear to allege that Carver's tweet defamed both Mrs. Hart and Mr. Hart because it used the term "y'all." Certainly it's plausible that, because the tweet was directed at Ms. Hart and phrased in the second person, the tweet was about her. But the Harts' Amended Complaint provides no explanation as to why the tweet would also be referring to Ms. Hart's husband. They don't allege, for example, that Carver tagged Mr. Hart in the tweet. And because they don't explain the context surrounding the tweet, so far as the court is aware, the direct object "y'all" could refer to anyone with whom Ms. Hart associates.

The court doesn't opine on whether, in context, the accusation of homosexuality could itself be defamatory, because it concludes that the accusation also alleged adultery:

For the purposes of this case, the court need not decide whether an accusation of homosexuality would tend to "bring a person into public hatred, contempt or ridicule; cause him to be shunned or avoided; or injure him in his business or occupation." Here, the statement about "secret lesbian sex threesomes" could plausibly be construed as a statement that Ms. Hart has engaged in adultery. Because an allegation of adultery is defamatory per se, Ms. Hart's defamation claim based on the "secret lesbian sex threesome" statement survives a motion to dismiss….

Note that "lesbian threesome" may be a reference to a real controversy involving a Moms for Liberty cofounder (though not Hart herself). From Newsweek (Thomas Kika) in Dec. 2023:

Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler's admission to having a sexual relationship with the woman accusing her husband of rape has sparked backlash online Saturday, with many labeling the Florida political leader a hypocrite.

Bridget Ziegler's husband, Christian Ziegler, is the head of the Florida Republican Party and is currently embroiled in a sexual assault investigation. On Friday, it was reported that an unnamed woman claiming to be a friend of the Zieglers filed a report with the Sarasota Police in early October claiming that Christian Ziegler had come to her apartment and raped her, after a planned threesome between the victim and the couple fell through after Bridget Ziegler became busy at the last minute….

As revealed in recently released court documents, Bridget Ziegler was interviewed by investigators in early November, confirming that she, her husband, and the victim had been friends and had engaged in a consensual sexual encounter roughly a year prior to the assault that the victim now alleges….

Comments

[loki13]

Eh ... I have to disagree with this. I don't see this as an accusation of infidelity.

Y'all is plural. He (the defendant) is obviously not referring to the (singular) person he is replying to. And he's not talking about her and her spouse. He's talking about her ... and her "ilk" if you catch my drift. People like her. This is further bolstered by his use of "we" to refer to "his side."

Before I even knew any more context, the only natural reading is that this wasn't a specific comment directed at a person, but namecalling associated with what the defendant believed her group identity to represent.

"Y'all a bunch of repressed weirdos trying to make us conform to the way y'all say you're livin', while y'all actually engaging in engaging in orgies."

Something like that. Bad decision.

[rswallen]

Same. I thought it was a reference to the old stereotype of those most vocally opposed to same-sex relationships being closet homosexuals.

[Brett Bellmore]

I've never quite understood why people on the left think accusations of repressed and/or secret homosexuality is a killer argument, and pull them out so quickly.

That said, I would generally agree with you that the accusation was more of a group slander than specifically directed at the plaintiff. But maybe that's something for a jury to decide.

[loki13]

Eh, I doubt it would get to a jury. Part of the issue is "threesomes" is also plural, and there's also the use of "we."

Unfortunately, this is a VERY cramped reading of the amended complaint only. I think it should have been dismissed. Additional facts (such as the fact that she is a member of Mothers of Liberty, that the "cult" reference is to the same group, and that, therefore, this isn't a specific reference to the plaintiff, but a reference to a well-known fact about the co-founder of Moms for Liberty and therefore a group reference) should be sufficient to show that this was not a specific accusation of marital infidelity.

Also? No (real) damages. It's a suit for purposes of harassment.

[Lee Moore]

I tend to agree with loki. Which makes me suspect that I have strayed off course somewhere.

[Life of Brian]

It happens to the best of us. In my view the "y'all" part is a distraction as concerns Mrs. Hart, because the court specifically didn't rely on that: "Certainly it’s plausible that, because the tweet was directed at Ms. Hart and phrased in the second person, the tweet was about her."

The husband, on the other hand, wasn't a recipient and wasn't specifically mentioned, so "y'all was the only hook they had to plead he was defamed and the court didn't find that plausible.

Particularly at the motion to dismiss stage, this doesn't seem particularly egregious or unexpected.

[tkamenick]

Completely agreed. You have to really stretch to conclude this is an accusation about the plaintiff specifically rather than just a lame attack on the broader group of like-minded people.

[Lee Moore]

“The party of limited government and personal freedom just banned 673 books from one school district.

Republicanism is fascism.”

I would deplore Republicans, or anyone else, banning 673 books from one school district, in the sense of making possession of such books, by anyone, in the geographical area covered by the school district, an offense. But somehow I doubt that’s what they did. I suspect they decided not to stock those 673 books in government school libraries. Which is a decision about what should be taught and what learning materials should be made available, in government schools. Which decisions, in any system, are made, directly or indirectly, by the government. Unsurprisingly.

Mr Carver’s view of what constitutes “fascism”, “personal freedom” and “limited government” is interesting, and suggests that his classroom style may have been be more exuberant than rational. There is a place for such teachers, of course, but one would hope the school district seasons its schools with such exuberant teachers rather lightly.

A rational colleague might have mentioned to him that not having government schools at all, or government school libraries, would be the natural course for a limited government.

[John F. Carr]

Is a lesbian sex threesome adultery under common law, statute, or defemation law? I thought it was traditionally not sex at all but rather a crime against nature.

[Glaucomatose]

Sounds like the proper remedy here is for the various LGBTQ+ individuals and supporters named in the tweets excerpted by the defendant as "groomers" to sue the Harts for defamation, as that's a much more specific allegation than the defendant's reference to "y'all" having threesomes.

[Keldonric]

Southerner here — “y’all” almost always shifts the meaning to plural, basically “you people.” That makes the tweet read like a jab at the group (Moms for Liberty). The second “you,” qualified by “Puritan Martyrs,” sticks with the group, and the “your” looks like a reference to the Bridget Ziegler scandal. Hard to see this as a specific accusation against Ms. Hart personally.

[loki13]

It's a Maryland court. Not really the South.

I'd expect that judge to be able to talk about bay seasoning, not the finer points of SEC football.

Bless his heart.

EDIT-----
DAMN! I just realized that the District Court is actually in Kentucky.

Well, that doesn't change my mind about not really knowing about SEC Football.

[ReaderY]

He’s from Kentucky. The question here is about what HE meant. But I don’t think that matters all that much. In context, I think that not only is a reference to the group Moms for Liberty the most natural reading, the Plaintiff’s interpretation strikes me as strained.

[Keldonric]

Well, coming from the part of the world Jerry Reed sang about in Amos Moses, it’s not Old Bay — it’s Zatarain’s. And the football isn’t Big Ten or ACC, it’s LSU all the way. Which is to say, folks around here know exactly how “y’all” gets used.

I was at LSU at the same time as Kevin Faulk, which meant even in the rough years you still got to see something special. Hard to beat watching a back like that for three bucks a game.

[Brett Bellmore]

Specific, no. But 'y'all' always at least includes the person being addressed.

[Keldonric]

That’s fair, Brett — “y’all” does usually include the person being addressed. My only point is that in Southern usage it often shifts the center of gravity to the group. So while she’s technically included, the natural reading still feels more like a jab at Moms for Liberty as a whole than a personal accusation.

[Life of Brian]

My recent book, Gay Poems for Red States

This fine fellow doesn't appear to be at all mission-driven or have the slightest axe to grind.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Many many years ago, living in the SF Bay Area after a stint in the Navy, I had a subscription to KPFA, which I soon learned had changed considerably from what I grew up with (The Goon Show, classical music). The final straw was a weekly one hour program (details may be foggy) of "Gay women prisoners poetry workshop." I don't have anything against poetry, I actually like the less pretentious sort, but a workshop? For an hour, weekly? And how many gay women prisoner poets are there, and how many actually have access to KPFA while in prison? It struck me as a waste of my money, and they had long since ceased offering reruns of The Goon Show.

[ReaderY]

It seems to me that the most straightforward reading of “y’all” refers to the group Moms for Liberty generally, and the most straightforward interpretation of “secret lesbian threesomes” is a reference to the then-recent scandal involving Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridgette Ziegler.

Trying to look at this as neutrally as possible, it seems to me that it requires a rather strained reading of the tweet to interpret it as a reference to the plaintiff or her husband. The most natural reading only addresses the plaintiff as a member of a group tainted, as a group, by scandal. And because the scandal reference is based on true facts about the group’s co-founder, nothing in the tweet strikes me as libelous.

[Mark Regan]

What led you to call Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove "Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove Rubin"?

[Eugene Volokh]

Whoops, sorry, fixed! The case was originally in D. Md., before Judge Julie Rubin; it was then transferred, for personal jurisdiction reasons, to E.D. Ky., where it was assigned to Judge Van Tatenhove. I had blogged about its earlier phase, and then copied part of that post to this one; and while changing the judge's name, I didn't entirely replace the old one.