A Baltimore teacher is suing four Republican state legislators, members of the conservative parent group Moms for Liberty, and the user behind the popular rightwing social media account Libs of TikTok for defamation.

Alexa Sciuto, an LGBTQIA+ advocate who formerly taught in Baltimore County, claims the conservative legislators falsely accused her of making online death threats toward a Moms for Liberty member.

Sciuto resigned from the school district in May 2024 after six years, documents show. She now works for Baltimore City Public Schools.

Her lawsuit states that members of Moms for Liberty have continued to spread the false message that she was fired. Damages from reputational harm, emotional distress and loss of future earnings amount to at least $100,000, Sciuto claims in the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

None of the legislators or representatives of the other defendants immediately responded to requests for comment.

Sciuto, a comedian, uses her social media platform to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and call out extreme conservatives. She has over 31,000 followers on TikTok and said in an interview that it’s important to get the word out about “bad actors” in the state.

In June 2024, Sciuto attended a parents’ rights event called the Parental Power Summit in Towson. Kit Hart, a defendant on the lawsuit and head of Carroll County’s Moms for Liberty chapter, was one of the speakers.

During audience questions, Sciuto asked Hart and her fellow panelists what the word “woke” means. Sciuto said she saw the word on Moms for Liberty merchandise at the event. Hart didn’t have a clear response, according to Sciuto.

The question and response were being livestreamed on Sciuto’s social media. An edited version was posted on her TikTok, where it received over 660,000 views.

A few days later, the superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools received a letter signed by Baltimore County Republican Dels. Kathy Szeliga, Ryan Nawrocki and Robin Grammer Jr., as well as Lauren Arikan, a Republican delegate representing Baltimore and Harford counties. They were calling for Sciuto’s termination.

Both Szeliga and Arikan attended the summit. The letter stated that Sciuto had made death threats to Hart, citing a tweet from Sciuto that read, “Officer, I swear I didn’t mean to murder her” above a picture of Hart. The posting was in reference to Hart’s attempt to answer Sciuto’s question about wokeness.

“This is dangerous and abhorrent behavior by a Baltimore County teacher,” the letter stated. “We are also deeply concerned about her influence on students in Baltimore County in light of the unstable behavior demonstrated here.”

Sciuto argues in the lawsuit that the social media post was rhetorical, and not an actual threat. The defendants, the lawsuit stated, are mischaracterizing it. Both Szeliga and Arikan posted the letters to their social media, according to the lawsuit, falsely claiming Sciuto made a death threat toward Hart.

The letter from the state legislators was later published by Libs of TikTok, “resulting in hundreds of thousands of views.”

The lawsuit accuses Hart of calling Sciuto unstable and dangerous. It states that the head of the Talbot County’s Moms for Liberty chapter, Janet Greenhawk, who is also named as a defendant, repeated the claim in an article in The Easton Gazette, adding that Sciuto was asked to resign. Sciuto said that isn’t true.

“The article was removed from Facebook, after which Defendant Hart reposted it to X and encouraged others to ‘share it far and wide’ more than once,” the lawsuit states.

Hart also, according to the lawsuit, shared false statements about Sciuto in a Facebook group for Fredrick County’s Moms for Liberty chapter that included an assertion that she uses her teacher position “to infiltrate her classroom with LGBTQ ideology.”

“She then stated she suspects Plaintiff will attempt to get a job in another county and encouraged readers to ‘be aware of her name and speak up if you hear that she’s been reinstated,’” the lawsuit says. “Due to the very specific circumstances, a reasonable person could deduce that Plaintiff is the subject of this post.”

Sciuto argues these actions are part of a pattern to cause damage to her reputation and career. It cites a post by Hart from June 2024 in which she replies to an X post with an image of an “obscene coloring book page depicting the rape of a child.”

“Defendant Hart wrote that that is the type of assignment Plaintiff would give to her students,” the court document stated.

The lawsuit accuses Hart of continuing to share false claims about Sciuto in subsequent months.

“As a result of these events, Plaintiff experienced undue reputational harm, emotional distress, and disruption to her professional standing and employment prospects,” the lawsuit claims.

On a personal level, the goal of the lawsuit is to clear the air on what’s true and what isn’t, Sciuto said. On a bigger level, she said she wants to stand up against people who attack teachers.

“Teachers are, in many ways, expected to live locked-down private lives,” Sciuto said, adding that’s not who she is.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.