Indiana School's Policy on Transgender Students Did Not Violate the Teacher's Religious Rights, Rules Court
- Posted on April 9, 2023
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Indiana School's Policy on Transgender Students:-
In a recent case involving a Christian teacher of a high school, who had to resign from his job, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opined that the school did no wrong in refusing to hire back the teacher.
Teacher's Discrimination
John Kluge, a Christian music teacher at the Brownsburg High School of Indianapolis, refused to address the transgender students by their first names or the pronouns by which the students identified themselves, due to the religious stigma attached to the Transgender Community in Christianity.
Kluge said "Encouraging students to present themselves as the opposite sex by calling them an opposite-sex first name is sinful".
Initially, the school allowed the teacher to address the students by their last name but this practice of only using last name did more harm than ease as it stigmatized the transgender students more as per Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner, keeping in view the court documents.
Termination
This increased stigma worsened the discomfort leading to complaints by students and teachers, in consequence of this, the school took back its decision. But, Kluge's adamancy to stick to his beliefs and not accommodate the students, eventually led to his termination.
The Case
Kluge sued the school for violating his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion and sought back his job with unspecified damages. Kluge's case was taken up by a Christian conservative legal group, The Alliance Defending Freedom.
As per federal law, the employees' religious beliefs can be accommodated by the employers only to the extent it does not cause any hardship to other people. Upholding the court's ruling Rovner said, "Kluge's refusal to follow those policies created an undue hardship on Brownsburg's mission of educating all of its students".
On the dissenting side of the ruling was Judge Michael Brennan who said that whether the school tried to mitigate the arising disruptions is unclear. A determination should be made by forming a Jury if there was any violation of the rights of Kluge.
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