A transgender teacher in Texas has quit after facing harassment and vile comments from lawmakers and the public over her social media post.
“I had to resign from my teaching job,” Rosalyn Sandri, a high school English teacher who came out as transgender about seven months ago, posted to TikTok Monday after lawmakers and social media users attacked her online. But, she promised, “I will not be scared into silence.”
Sandri’s TikTok videos average about 1,000 views — but one video garnered 5.8 million views after the account “Libs of TikTok” posted it on X in late March along with a caption claiming Sandri was “a man pretending to be a woman.” In the video, Sandri described the joy she felt after her students addressed her using terms to describe a woman, like “ma’am.”
Referring to the transwoman as “he,” the “Libs of TikTok” account asked: “Would you feel comfortable with this person teaching your kid?”
The hate spiraled from there. The teacher started receiving hate mail on her personal and school email accounts, she said.
Sandri told The Independent Wednesday that she felt she had to step down “for my safety and the safety of the students.” She added: “It was a decision that broke my heart. It felt very defeating. But it felt it was the only thing I could do.”
“People have sent me messages telling me to unalive myself,” Sandri said in a TikTok Monday, adding that others have sent her transphobic slurs and threats to harm her.
Several lawmakers were among those spreading the transphobic rhetoric. South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace commented, referring to Sandri as “it” while Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison reposted Libs of TikTok’s post. Harrison, who represents Red Oak, Texas, where Sandri teaches, demanded she be “immediately terminated” and noted he was in touch with her school district.
The Independent has reached out to a representative for Mace for comment.
A spokesperson for the Texas lawmaker told The Independent in a statement that he was “glad to see that just three days after I demanded his termination, [she] will no longer be teaching students in my district.”
He continued: “Public schools are for education, not indoctrination. Any teacher who claims to get ‘gender euphoria’ from their minor students and teaches them that boys can become girls should be terminated immediately.”
In a TikTok posted Tuesday, Sandri clarified that she did not force the children to change her pronouns: “I told them they could call me whatever they wanted.”
In the video made viral by Libs of TikTok, Sandri posted about feeling “gender euphoria,” or positive feelings associated with the alignment of one’s gender identity and expression, after being called “ma’am” by someone at a gas station as well as by her students. “It was such a small thing to make me this happy,” she said in the TikTok.
After telling her sophomore students that she had changed her pronouns, the kids were “completely on board,” Sandri said in the video. “They call me ‘ma’am,’ they call me ‘miss,’ they use my correct pronouns and know my correct name. And it is incredibly affirming.” She said the small gesture of calling a trans individual by their proper pronouns could transform her entire day.
But many X users took away a completely different message, calling for Sandri to be nowhere near children, claiming she suffers from a mental illness because she’s trans, and suggesting parents take their kids out of public school.
“A grown man gets ‘euphoria’ from children affirming his delusions. This is not a teacher; this is someone who belongs far away from children,” one user remarked.
Another wrote: “There is the sickness on full display. The only affirmation you should need is that your students learn what they come to school to learn. That’s the job. Not to affirm your desires and sexuality.”
“This man needs to be removed from teaching children immediately!! This is disgusting! He is a child predator!” another commented.
One user, Trump World, harshly said: “I would rather have a literal monkey teaching students.”
In an email sent to school staff this week, Beth Trimble, the district’s chief communications officer, underscored the social media policy. “Your freedom of speech is not free of consequences if it results in a disruption of your ability to do your job,” the email, obtained by NBC News, said.
The email sent to staff was not related to Sandri, Trimble said in a statement to The Independent, noting it was “a reminder as we enter election season” and is also sent at the start of the school year.
Asked about the circumstances of Sandri’s resignation, Trimble said: “In light of recent attention, Red Oak High School English teacher Sandri has resigned, effective March 31, 2025. Any other information is a personnel matter, and we are not at liberty to discuss.”
On Tuesday after Sandri announced her resignation, Libs of TikTok wrote on X: “BIG WIN for students and parents in Texas.”
In the days since her resignation, Sandri said the hateful rhetoric has not died down, in part because her video was pinned to the top of Libs of TikTok’s page once again.
She said she feels “some fear” by continuing to post on a public account, but she’s vowed to not be silenced online and continues to post on TikTok.
“I want to speak out. Educate people,” Sandri said. “I am not afraid of Brian Harrison or Libs of TikTok. All they’ve done is make an activist out of me.”
