Good for him! No queer loving kiddie fucker teachers allowed in
schools!
An Indiana music theory teacher's religious discrimination lawsuit against
his former employer that allegedly ousted him for refusing to adhere to a
transgender name and pronoun policy could get a second look if the
conditions are right, his attorney says.
The glimmer of hope for former teacher John Kluge comes after last
Friday's blow dealt by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
which upheld a lower court's decision stating the school had not violated
his rights.
Depending on the Supreme Court's course of action with Groff v. DeJoy, a
case scheduled for argument later this month, Kluge's case could get a
second look.
Rory Gray, senior counsel on legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom's
Appellate Advocacy Team, represented Kluge in his case against the
district. He maintains that his client "went out of his way" to
accommodate students according to their wishes.
FEDERAL JUDGE BACKS FIRING OF INDIANA TEACHER WHO REFUSED TO USE
TRANSGENDER STUDENTS' NAMES, PRONOUNS
Gray joined Fox News Digital on Wednesday to discuss the ruling, how the
Groff case could have significant impact and what legal options his client
has going forward.
"This is not the end of the road," Gray said. "Mr. Kluge has a few
options, which we're exploring. He can even go to the full seventh
Circuit, which is called an on bond petition, or he could file a petition
with the U.S. Supreme Court, so he's exploring his options."
Kluge's legal team maintained that the school district's actions violated
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits workplace
discrimination based on religion and requires employers to provide
reasonable accommodation to workers based on those beliefs unless such
accommodation would create an undue hardship.
The Groff case headed for the Supreme Court similarly homes in on
employment accommodations and undue hardship, asking the court to examine
an incident involving a postal worker who refused to deliver mail on
Sundays because it violated his religious beliefs urging against working
on the Sabbath day.
Groff's employer, the postal service, initially agreed to accommodate him
by asking him to cover other shifts throughout the week to make up for the
missed Sundays.
FLORIDA BILL WOULD RESTRICT GENDER PRONOUNS IN SCHOOLS, DEFINE BIOLOGICAL
SEX AS AN IMMUTABLE TRAIT
USPS later argued that finding coverage for Groff's Sunday shifts created
an undue hardship, requiring other postal workers to carry more mail than
they would typically have to carry and began punishing him for failing to
appear on Sundays.
Groff resigned in January 2019.
In a statement emailed to Fox News Digital earlier this week, Gray noted
that Groff's case will give the Supreme Court the opportunity to "fix the
standard for accommodating religious employees under Title VII" and could
thereby have an impact on the future of Kluge's case.
"One of the questions in [Groff's case] is actually what the standard
should be for religious accommodation under Title VII. What is undue
hardship? And so we are hopeful that the Supreme Court will fix that and
mean that undue hardship actually stands for something. It isn't just a
tiny little inconvenience, it's an actual hardship that's undue," he said
of the case Wednesday.
"If they do that, if they change the standard, Mr. Kluge's case will have
to be reexamined," Gray added.
FLORIDA BILL WOULD RESTRICT GENDER PRONOUNS IN SCHOOLS, DEFINE BIOLOGICAL
SEX AS AN IMMUTABLE TRAIT
"It's important to remember here that public schools really can't force
teachers to abandon their religious beliefs, and that's what Mr. Kluge's
case is all about," he concluded.
Kluge, citing his personal religious convictions, requested that he be
allowed to address transgender students by their last names instead of
their preferred first names or pronouns shortly after the Brownsburg
Community School Corporation enacted the policy in 2017. The district
initially agreed to his request, but later rescinded the allowance and
Kluge resigned shortly after.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Brownsburg Community School
Corporation earlier this week, but the district said it does not comment
on pending litigation.
<https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/indiana-teacher-ousted-for-defying-
district-s-trans-policy-could-get-court-case-reexamined-attorney-says/ar-
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