A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of an Indiana high school that was cleared of any wrongdoing after a music teacher was forced to leave because she refused to adopt the new names and titles for transgender students.
On Friday, the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the rights of Brownsburg High School music teacher John Kluge were outweighed by the risk of disruption to the classroom.
The district’s policy of letting students use their chosen names and titles is contrary to Kluge’s religious beliefs, he says.
Throughout the 2017-2018 school year, teachers in high schools were required to use pupils’ legal names and identify them according to their gender. Before that point, all that was required was a note from a parent or a doctor to make a change.
On the first day of class, Kluge voiced his dissatisfaction with the administration. He justified his use of the surname in reference to his children by citing his Christian beliefs.
Trying to win Kluge over wasn’t without its costs.
When I asked two transgender students how they felt about being called by their last names in class, they both said it made them feel uncomfortable.
There was widespread disapproval of Kluge’s choice within the school community, and many parents and students expressed their displeasure to district officials.
After hearing the claims, the school allegedly changed its mind and firmly urged Kluge to leave.
Kluge allegedly resigned in 2018 after being faced with termination due to poor student interactions, as detailed in court filings.
In 2019, Kluge sued the district, claiming it had broken a federal law that forbids religious discrimination in the workplace. He requested that he be returned to his previous employment and that he be spared any more punishment.
Under federal law, employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for workers’ religious beliefs, unless doing so would “unduly burden” the firm.
A federal judge in Indiana and a court in Chicago (7th Circuit) rejected the complaint despite Kluge’s arguments that using students’ last names would not add extra work for the school.
An appeals court decided that asking students to identify themselves by their last names “made students feel disrespected, singled out, and dehumanized, and it made the learning environment less conducive,” despite the district’s attempts to accommodate Kluge’s religious views.
The court found that Brownsburg “has shown as a matter of law that the requested accommodation worked an undue burden on the school’s educational mission,” which included harming transgender students and creating a more hostile classroom environment for everyone.
Attorney Rory Gray, who represents Kluge and works for the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, has said that the group is now considering its options.
‘Congress enacted Title VII to forbid companies from pressuring people to give up their beliefs in order to preserve their employment,’ Gray said in a statement. Mr. Kluge always made an effort to get his kids out of jams and treated them with respect. Before arbitrarily punishing Mr. Kluge for his religious values, the school administration provided this accommodation for him.