The 25-year-old woman said her "body is beautiful" and that she is the victim of a double standard.
A Long Island math teacher was fired after a topless photo she took fell into the hands of students. Now she's suing for “sex discrimination.”
“There's nothing wrong with my picture. My picture's pure, it's womanly,” Lauren Miranda told Inside Edition.
The 25-year-old says she sent the selfie three years ago to her then-boyfriend, who was also a teacher in the district.
“I think my body is beautiful, he thinks my body is beautiful also. Why should I not be able to take that picture?” she added.
In January, as she started her classes at Bellport Middle School on Long Island, New York, her nightmare began.
“I got a text message after first period from a friend of mine saying 'students have a naked picture of you,'” she said.
She said that she and her union reps were called to a meeting in the principal's office.
"He says, 'I have the image, I am going to show you the image,' proceeds to spin his computer monitor and there it is," she recalled.
It is unknown how the long-forgotten selfie came into the possession of a student, but when officials found out about it, they suspended her. Last week, she said, the school district fired her.
One official said she "caused, allowed or otherwise made it possible" for an inappropriate photo to circulate, according to the New York Times.
Miranda said she's a victim of a double standard.
“We would not be sitting here right now if a topless picture of a man was to surface like mine had,” Miranda said.
John Ray is her lawyer and also spoke to Inside Edition.
“In this generation, it is very clear that men and women are equal and apparently the administration and their superintendent didn't get that memo,” he said.
“It’s 2019, it's not okay for me to be treated any differently because I’m a woman,” Miranda added.
Miranda intends to sue the school district for $3 million, accusing them of gender discrimination. The school isn't commenting but one official was quoted saying Miranda "caused, allowed, or otherwise made it possible" for an inappropriate photo to circulate.
RELATED STORIES
