Federal court upholds forced resignation of Indiana teacher who declined to use preferred pronouns
May 02, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: A federal district court has upheld an Indiana school district’s decision to force the resignation of an orchestra teacher who declined to use transgender students’ preferred pronouns.
The Brownsburg Community School Corporation (BCSC) at first granted a religious accommodation to John Kluge, an orchestra teacher, that permitted him to refer to students by their last names. The school district, located in a small city of 30,000, then withdrew the accommodation and forced him to resign.
Siding with the school district, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, an Obama appointee, ruled that the school district “could either support its transgender students in pursuit of its mission and comply with the law, or accede to Mr. Kluge’s accommodation and risk harm to students and the learning environment.”
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin, “does not require BCSC to continue an accommodation that actually resulted in substantial student harm, and an unreasonable risk of liability, each sharply contradicting the school’s legally entitled mission to foster a supportive environment for all,” Judge Magnus-Stinson added.
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