Court Sides With Teacher Over Woke School District in First Amendment Case

A federal court in Ohio ruled on August 12 that an Ohio school district erred when it compelled a substitute English teacher to use “preferred names and pronouns” for two transgender students. Judge Pamela Barker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio ruled that the Jackson Local School District Board of Education violated Vivian Geraghty’s First Amendment rights when it forced her to resign over her reticence to use the phony nomenclature.

Geraghty’s “Transgression”

Geraghty had told school and district personnel that her religion had taught her “there are males and females and that the use of preferred names and pronouns contrary to those sexes is against her beliefs,” according to court documents. School officials attempted to offer Geraghty “work-arounds” on the issues, such as not using pronouns and only using the student’s preferred names — the student’s original names were still on the school roster — but the options didn’t appeal to Geraghty. She ended up resigning later that same day.

There are some who believe that the school’s suggestion that Geraghty not use any pronouns and instead just use the “new” names to refer to the transgender students was a reasonable work-around. But if that’s the case, why didn’t the school’s roster reflect that change? Why did the school’s official roster continue to “deadname” the students?

Barker ruled that the school essentially “compelled Geraghty to use the students’ preferred names and pronouns,” forcing the teacher “to ‘utter what [was] not in [her] mind’ about a question of political and religious significance.”

Geraghty was released from employment in 2022.

Responses to the Ruling

The ruling is only partial and the case is still ongoing. Both parties had asked for summary judgments in the case. Barker ruled negatively on the school district’s claim that Geraghty failed to follow the proper grievance procedure. Barker similarly denied Geraghty’s claim that the dismissal violated her right to due process.

However, said Arielle Del Turco of the Family Research Council (FRC),

It’s good to see the court affirm this teacher’s First Amendment rights in this case. Teachers should not face compelled speech in favor of one ideological perspective which violates their deeply held religious beliefs. This is what the school did by trying to force a Christian teacher to use preferred gender pronouns that did not correspond with students’ biological sex.

She continued:

[Schools] should stay out of the business of forcing ideological conformity…. Religious freedom has consistently won in the courts [but] “it is discouraging to see school districts keep putting that to the test. We need a restoration of respect for religious freedom and freedom of speech in the culture, not just the courts.

The LGBT movement is purposefully sowing discord in schools nationwide. The issue of gender-confused males competing in and destroying female athletics is an especially thorny issue. Several states allow such competition, while several states, including Ohio, have banned it.

It’s only confusing because LGBT advocates insist on making it so. In the end, shouldn’t those with XX chromosomes and those with XY chromosomes compete only against each other?

“The pernicious lie of LGBTQ ideology is causing irreparable harm amongst so many young people today,” said David Closson, director of FRC’s Center for Biblical Worldview. “I commend Geraghty for her bold stance against an ideology that is destructive and responsible for sowing harm and confusion amongst children in classrooms.”

LGBT advocates want to portray their complaints as some sort of civil rights issue. However, their true intention is to create confusion and chaos where there ought to be none.