US — Brownsburg, Indiana. A public high school teacher referred to all students by their last names to circumvent a school policy requiring staff to use the preferred names and pronouns of transgender-identifying students. The teacher resigned under pressure, and filed a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and compelled speech “forcing a teacher to take a side on this very highly controversial topic.” A district court recently ruled in favor of the high school.
Mr Kluge’s accused school administrators of infringing on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by religious discrimination based on failure to accommodate, retaliation and hostile work environment. His First Amendment allegations involved retaliation, content and viewpoint discrimination, compelled speech and violations of his rights to the free exercise of religion and to be free from unconstitutional conditions. He alleged Fourteenth Amendment infringement on his rights to due process and equal protection. Additionally, he said school administrators violated Indiana state law intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and violating the rights of conscience and free exercise of religion.
The court found that school administrators’ behavior was reasonable, and Mr Kluge would not meet his burden of proof for allegations of hostile work environment or emotional harm.