Opinion ID: 749842
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Freedom of Speech Clause.

Text: 54 Ms. Bauchman relies on the same allegations she asserted in her Free Exercise claim to support her Free Speech claim. In essence, she argues the practice and performance of Christian devotional music at religious sites as part of the regular, graded, Choir curriculum have deprived her of her constitutional right to refrain from speaking. 55 The First Amendment certainly prohibits the government from compelling speech. See, e.g., Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 714, 97 S.Ct. 1428, 1435, 51 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977). Here again, however, a threshold element of Ms. Bauchman's claim is coercion or compulsion. See id. at 714-15, 97 S.Ct. at 1435-36; Mountain States Legal Foundation v. Costle, 630 F.2d 754, 769-70 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1050, 101 S.Ct. 1770, 68 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981). For the same reasons discussed in the context of Ms. Bauchman's Free Exercise claim, we conclude her complaint fails to allege facts sufficient to show she was coerced or compelled to engage in any Choir activities (practicing or performing songs she found offensive in venues she found offensive) against her will. The district court properly dismissed Ms. Bauchman's Free Speech claim for having failed to establish a necessary element of the alleged violation.