Indiana School District Settles Religious Discrimination Lawsuit by Former Teacher Required To Use Students’ Preferred Pronouns

An Indiana school district has agreed to settle with a former music teacher who resigned over a policy that he felt would have violated his religious beliefs by forcing him to use students’ preferred pronouns. On Tuesday, the Brownsburg Community School Corporation agreed to pay $650,000 to settle a lawsuit by the teacher, John Kluge. 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. Citing his Christian religious beliefs, Mr. Kluge asked for a religious accommodation under Title VII and that would allow him to instead refer to his students by their last names, “like a sports coach.”The school district initially granted his request, but rescinded the accommodation after it said it received complaints from students and faculty members.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, Mr. Kluge resigned and sued the school district, alleging it violated federal laws prohibiting religious discrimination. His lawsuit was dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, after the jurists ruled that the school district did not violate religious discrimination laws. However, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 Groff v. DeJoy decision, which stated that employers must grant religious accommodations unless they would lead to substantial costs, he appealed to the 7th Circuit, which revived his case in August 2025. In a statement, a lawyer from the firm that represented Mr. Kluge, the Alliance Defending Freedom, David Cortman, said, “After almost five and a half years, common sense has prevailed at Brownsburg.”“This settlement confirms what the law has always said: Public schools cannot force teachers to violate their religious beliefs,” he added. “Schools should learn that refusing to accommodate religious employees can be illegal and expensive.”The ADF said that Brownsburg officials will also train teachers on “how Title VII protects religious employees against discrimination” as part of the settlement. In a statement, the Brownsburg school corporation said that after “careful and extended deliberation,” it was “deemed to be in the best interest of Brownsburg Schools’ financial situation to settle this case.” The statement added that school officials “continue to believe” that Mr. Kluge’s free speech rights were “not infringed at Brownsburg Schools.”

Indiana School District Settles Religious Discrimination Lawsuit by Former Teacher Required To Use Students’ Preferred Pronouns

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