A former high school music teacher, John Kluge, is getting a chance to sue his former employer after he resigned rather than be fired for refusing to call transgender-identifying students by their preferred pronouns.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit revived Mr. Kluge’s lawsuit against the Brownsburg Community School Corporation in a 2-1 vote on Tuesday. 

The legal battle stems from the school district’s decision in 2017 to require teachers to refer to students who identify as transgender by their preferred pronouns and names. However, due to Mr. Kluge’s Christian beliefs, he asked if he could have a religious accommodation under Title VII to avoid using those pronouns and names and instead refer to his students by their last names “like a sports coach.”

Initially, the school district granted his request; however, it rescinded the accommodation after it said it received complaints from students and faculty members. The district then warned Mr. Kluge that he would have to use students’ preferred pronouns and names or face being fired.

In 2021, he decided to resign and sued the school district for violating prohibitions against discrimination for religion under Title VII. He faced several legal setbacks between 2021 and 2023 as the 7th Circuit and lower courts found the school district did not violate anti-discrimination laws. 

In July 2024, after the Supreme Court’s 2023 Groff v. DeJoy decision, which stated that employers must grant religious accommodations unless they would lead to substantial costs, he once again appealed to the appellate court, which ruled in his favor on Tuesday.

Attorneys from the firm representing Mr. Kluge, the Alliance Defending Freedom, argued before the 7th Circuit that the school district violated Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination on the basis of religion. 

The majority opinion of the appellate court, written by Judge Michael Brennan, said that the school district did not show Mr. Kluge’s accommodation led to “increased stigmatization” of transgender students, nor did it show that it placed a hardship on the school’s educational mission. 

“Brownsburg has not carried its burden to show undisputed facts of a serious disruption to the learning environment,” Judge Brennan, a Trump appointee, said. 

An appointee of President George H.W. Bush, Judge Ilana Rovner, said in her dissent that the school district “did what it could” to accommodate Mr. Kluge. Judge Rovner said the court’s decision would make jurors a “super-personnel department.”

The school district did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

A senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, David Cortman, said in a statement, “Title VII requires the government to accommodate its employees’ freedom to live and work according to their religious beliefs.”

“The Brownsburg school district ignored this right, deciding instead that Mr. Kluge’s religious views couldn’t be tolerated. It revoked his religious accommodation based on the complaints of a few, forcing him to resign or be fired,” Mr. Cortman said.

Tuesday’s ruling reversed a decision by an Indianapolis-based judge and set the stage for Mr. Kluge to take the school district to trial.