A Texas teacher who says she always dreamed of working in a classroom walked away from her education job this week after becoming the target of a coordinated online harassment campaign fueled by far-right influencers and politicians.
Rosie Sandri, a transgender woman who taught English at Red Oak High School south of Dallas for three years, resigned Monday — on Trans Day of Visibility — after being inundated with death threats, hate mail, and violent rhetoric. Her resignation came just days after the far-right account Libs of TikTok shared a TikTok video she posted about being affirmed by her students.
“They call me ‘ma’am.’ They call me ‘Miss.’ They use my correct pronouns and know my correct name,” Sandri said in the video. “It is incredibly affirming.”
Like many Libs of TikTok targets, that post was stripped of context and reframed to incite outrage. The account, which has been designated an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist entity by the Southern Poverty Law Center, deadnamed and misgendered Sandri to its millions of followers and asked, “Would you feel comfortable with this person teaching your kid?”
The video quickly spread across social media — gaining nearly 6 million views — and drew condemnation from anti-LGBTQ+ politicians. Republican Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison called for Sandri’s immediate firing and later boasted that he had helped “deliver this victory.”
South Carolina Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a rabid transphobe, joined in, referring to Sandri as “it.”
What followed was swift and brutal. Sandri received hate mail to her personal and school email addresses, including threats telling her to “eat a bullet.” Some commenters labeled her a predator. Others mocked her appearance and compared her to an animal. “People have sent me messages telling me to unalive myself,” she said in a TikTok this week.
“I had to resign from my teaching job,” Sandri said. “But I will not be scared into silence.”
Sandri told The Independent she felt she had no choice. “It was a decision that broke my heart. It felt very defeating. But it felt like it was the only thing I could do — for my safety and the safety of the students.”
According to NBC News, Red Oak Independent School District placed Sandri on leave while it reviewed the situation and then accepted her resignation. When asked about the decision, district spokesperson Beth 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 it.”
Sandri said school administrators never told her she had violated any policies. She emphasized that she never taught lessons about gender identity or pronouns in class. “I never stood up in front of the classroom and came out. I just started dressing differently,” she said. “When students asked, I told them they could call me whatever they were comfortable with.”
An internal staff email reviewed by NBC News reminded employees that speech that disrupts a teacher’s ability to perform their job can carry consequences. But Trimble said that message was unrelated to Sandri’s resignation.
It is not the first time that Chaya Raichik’s Libs of TikTok account has led a campaign resulting in a teacher’s departure. Raichik, who President Donald Trump’s administration has embraced, has targeted dozens of LGBTQ+ educators, performers, and medical providers — prompting harassment, doxxing, bomb threats, and job loss. In 2024, Oklahoma elementary school principal Shane Murnan resigned after the account posted about his drag performances outside of work. Last March in Texas, Rachmad Tjachyadi, a teacher known as “Mr. T,” resigned after a video of him discussing pronouns went viral.
Sandri said she is now exploring legal options and refuses to be silenced. “All they’ve done is make an activist out of me,” she said. “My message to Libs of TikTok is, ‘You picked the wrong one.’”
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