A teacher in Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit that claims his contract was not renewed at his school district because he refused to use transgender students’ preferred names and pronouns.
The teacher, Jordan Cernek, taught at Argyle School District in Argyle, Wisconsin. In a federal lawsuit, Cernek alleges that the district violated his constitutional and civil rights to be free of religious discrimination and to be able to express himself according to his religious beliefs.
“The district policy would force me to go against my conviction and commitment to God,” Cernak said in a statement from his lawyers, according to NBC News. “I did everything within my power to accommodate the needs of my students without compromising my faith.”
Cernak’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, seeks undisclosed damages, attorney fees, and a declaration that the school district violated his First Amendment rights (via NBC News):
The suit says two of Cernak's students were previously known to him as biologically female but had recently transitioned with new names, which Cernak refused to utter. The district pressed the issue with him and, the suit stated, allowed him to move forward by using physical gestures such as pointing them out for discussions instead of using their new names.
But after one of the students expressed unhappiness with the situation — the student's father was described as a fellow district teacher — the district demanded adherence to the policy of using students' preferred names and pronouns, according to the suit.
The school board discussed the matter in private, as is customary with personnel issues, and held a vote last year that led to Cernak's contract ending without renewal, the filing stated.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty is spearheading the lawsuit, the outlet noted. Luke Greul, its deputy counsel, said that this fight over first names and pronouns will be crucial for "everyday Americans across the country."
The issue of teachers being forced to use students’ preferred names and pronouns has grown in recent years.
In May, Townhall covered how a school district in Riverside County, California would pay $360,000 to settle a lawsuit from a former teacher who was fired because she refused to address students by their “preferred pronouns.”
Like Cernak, the teacher at the center of the lawsuit, Jessica Tapia, said that her free speech and religious rights had been violated at the school, where she worked as a physical education teacher.
The school district did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to pay Tapia to settle the lawsuit.