A Washington state middle school teacher is suing the Evergreen School District, his former principal and human resources director, for targeting him with harassment over his Make America Great Again hat.

Former Wy’east Middle School teacher Eric Dodge is suing the district, principal Caroline Garrett and human resources manager Janae Gomes for “emotional devastation” that resulted from being “verbally attacked and defamed by his new principal for the political opinions he held as a private citizen – specifically, statement in support of President Trump,” according to the federal lawsuit.

Dodge worked in the district for 17 years before taking medical leave for a stroke in 2017. When he returned, he was reassigned as a science teacher at Wy’east Middle School. The complaint stems from two training sessions ahead of the school year last August, when Dodge brought his newly purchased Make America Great Again hat, The Columbian reports.

The lawsuit contends Dodge bought the hat as a “conversation-starter, with the idea of explaining that ordinary and normal people support Trump, despite some of Trump’s flaws. The teacher alleges he wore the hat into the school building, then removed it, and did not “wear or purposefully display” the hat at any of the training sessions.

The Columbian reports:

According to an investigation by Clear Risk Solutions, which the district contracts with for risk management services, several teachers expressed concerns to the training’s instructor, as well as to administrators, about Dodge bringing the hat to school. One teacher, Amy Matsumoto, told investigators she was “shocked” to see Dodge with the hat in a cultural diversity training. She pointed out the school’s large population of Latino and Hispanic students who may feel uncomfortable if Dodge chose to wear the hat in class.

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