Anti-LGBTQ preacher returns to student union
Todd Schmidt won an injunction last month, paving the way for his return and signaling a “likely” win in his lawsuit against UW. He named an individual student on an anti-trans banner last December.
“Live not by lies,” read the banner of an anti-trans preacher in the University of Wyoming student union Thursday.
The preacher, Todd Schmidt, was tabling in the union for the first time since last December, when he displayed a different banner — one that would land him in hot water.
Last year, Schmidt’s banner read: “God created male and female and Artemis Langford is a male” — a message taking aim at transgender identities in general and naming a specific, individual student by way of example.
Schmidt was made to remove the name from his banner but allowed to stay for the rest of the day. Less than a week later, UW authorities revoked his tabling privileges, banning him from his favored preaching venue until the 2024 spring semester.
In response, Schmidt sued the university in federal court, claiming it had infringed on his First Amendment right to free speech and was censoring him solely for sharing an unpopular opinion.
“UW Officials determined Schmidt’s view on Langford’s sex is not orthodox and censored it for this reason,” his lawsuit alleged. “They committed viewpoint discrimination with the censorship.”
UW countered in court filings of its own that Schmidt had engaged in harassment and discrimination when he targeted Langford by name.
UW argued it has a right — and even a legal obligation — to prevent and punish discrimination and harassment, even if that discrimination or harassment came in the form of words.
“Plaintiff’s actions constituted discrimination and harassment of the student,” UW alleged. “They were not protected speech.”
Some speech can be banned by government institutions like UW if it falls into a broader category of prohibited actions and just so happens to take the form of spoken or written words, UW argued. For example, inciting a riot would be illegal not because the speaker holds a criminal opinion, but because they are engaging in a criminal action.
“Whatever viewpoint the discrimination and harassment represented or arose from was irrelevant, as the University was not targeting any expressive content of Plaintiff’s speech,” UW alleged.
Schmidt argued he never harassed or discriminated against anyone. Although his sign specifically and prominently named an individual student, Schmidt claimed he did not “target” that student.
"His intended message was not designed to target Artemis Langford personally or offend anyone, including Langford,” the original lawsuit stated.
UW also alleged Schmidt had a lengthy history of misbehavior when it came to tabling in the union. According to UW, Schmidt allegedly broke union rules so frequently that staff opened a file to start documenting complaints.
“For instance, on April 18, 2022, a student complained to the University that Plaintiff ‘got in people's faces’ while trying to talk to them,” UW alleged. “On April 30, 2022, a student complained that Plaintiff ran after him when he refused to talk to him. On November 11, 2022, a student staff member complained that Plaintiff approached him (i.e., left his table) to confront him about his shirt. Various individuals have complained about how Plaintiff treats female members of the University community. One staff member reported Plaintiff telling her that he does not respect female authority.”
The U.S. District Court of Wyoming has not published a final decision in this case, which is still ongoing. But on Aug. 18, the court granted Schmidt a preliminary injunction, allowing Schmidt to table in the union while the case moves ahead. That decision is what allowed for his return to the student union Thursday.
The court noted in its order granting the injunction that Schmidt had demonstrated a “likelihood of success” in his lawsuit against the university. This was a devastating blow to the university’s case and UW announced in a campuswide email that it could drop the case altogether.
"While the University of Wyoming is disappointed in today's ruling, it will comply with the terms of the preliminary injunction while considering whether to continue its defense and present further arguments in the case," the email stated. "The university believed its one-year suspension of plaintiff Todd Schmidt's ability to reserve a table in the Wyoming Union breezeway was appropriate and lawful, especially considering his prior misconduct and the university's legal obligations."
Schmidt would not comment for this story.
On the same day as Schmidt’s return to the union, the U.S. District Court of Wyoming released Dean of Students Ryan O’Neil from the lawsuit, who had been named as a defendant; the court also dismissed Schmidt’s claim that his Due Process rights were infringed.