A federal judge in Indianapolis has ruled against a former Brownsburg teache who said he was forced to resign after refusing to call transgender students by their authentic names.
John M. Kluge, a former music and orchestra teacher at Brownsburg High School (“BHS”), filed a lawsuit against Brownsburg Community School Corporation (“BCSC”) and several of its employees.
The judge on Monday rejected former orchestra teacher’s allegations of religious discrimination and retaliation against the Brownsburg Community School Corporation.
According to the judge, Kluge’s “religious opposition to “transgenderism” is directly at odds with [the district’s] policy of respect for transgender students, which is grounded in supporting and affirming those students.”
The judge also concluded that a public school corporation “has an obligation to meet the needs of all of its students, not just a majority of students or the students that were unaware of or unbothered by Mr. Kluge’s practice of using last names only.”
In July, Kluge told the principal he could not follow the name policy, and the principal gave him three options: follow the policy; resign; or be suspended, pending termination. Kluge refused to follow the policy or resign, so he was suspended, the court filing said.
According to the filing, he alleged that he was discriminated against and ultimately forced to resign because his sincerely-held religious beliefs prevented him from following a school policy that required him to address transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns and use of the restroom congruent with their gender expression.
Read the full article on PlanetTransgender
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