Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation
Description: Indiana music and orchestra teacher John Kluge is challenging the legality of Brownsburg Community School Corporation’s decision to revoke his religious accommodation over students’ pronoun usage. When the school district mandated that teachers call students by their preferred gender pronouns and names, Kluge requested a religious accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to call all his students by their last names only—like a coach—instead of referring to female students with male names and pronouns and vice versa. The school district granted Kluge’s request based on his religious beliefs, and Kluge successfully continued teaching under the religious accommodation for an entire school year. But in response to the grumblings of a few students and faculty, the school district revoked the religious accommodation and forced Kluge to resign, ending his teaching career.
Diverse groups rally to support IN music teacher forced out of job for his religious beliefs
CHICAGO – Seventeen states, multiple medical experts, children’s advocates, and a feminist group have joined together to file friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in support of former Indiana high school music teacher John Kluge. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Kluge filed their opening brief at the 7th Circuit last week.
Brownsburg Community School Corporation terminated Kluge’s employment because of his sincerely held religious beliefs. After he lost in the lower court and appealed, the 7th Circuit sent the case back to the district court in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy. In Groff, the Supreme Court reminded lower courts that federal law obligates employers to offer religious accommodations to their employees unless the employer demonstrates the accommodation causes an “undue hardship” on the employer. Yet the district court once again denied Kluge’s request to protect his religious freedom, holding that because a few students and teachers complained about Kluge’s beliefs, that was enough to deny him an accommodation.
“Government employees should know they have the freedom to live and work according to their religious beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Rory Gray. “Yet the Brownsburg school district ignored this right, deciding instead that John’s religious views couldn’t be tolerated. It revoked his religious accommodation based on the grumblings of a few, forcing him to resign or be fired. The school district’s actions violate Title VII, a federal law prohibiting discrimination against employees on the basis of religion. We are urging the 7th Circuit to recognize this wrong, especially since the outcome of this case could affect more people than just John, as is evident from the diverse beliefs represented in these briefs supporting Kluge.”
Kluge taught at Brownsburg High School for four years. In 2017, the school district mandated that teachers refer to transgender-identifying students using pronouns and names inconsistent with their sex. Kluge requested a religious accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to call all his students by their last names—like a coach—instead of referring to female students with male names and pronouns and vice versa. The school district initially granted Kluge this accommodation, and he successfully continued teaching under it for an entire school year. But in response to the grumblings of a few students and teachers, the district revoked the accommodation and forced Kluge to resign, ending his teaching career.
“Pushing out teachers who follow their consciences threatens to deprive schools of talented, dedicated, and experienced teachers at a time when teachers are in short supply,” the multi-state brief, led by Indiana, explains. “And far from helping students, schools send all the wrong messages to students about our Nation’s heritage of respect for religion. Granting religious accommodations is not only legally required but good policy.”
“Courts have long recognized that the sexes are ‘not similarly situated in certain circumstances,’ due to innate and enduring physical differences between male and female physiology,” adds the brief from Women’s Liberation Front. “Government decision makers that ignore necessary and appropriate distinctions between men and women (when relevant) build unworkable public policy which tends to disproportionately harm women and girls.”
Michael Cork, one of nearly 5,000 attorneys in the ADF Attorney Network, is serving as local counsel on behalf of Kluge.
The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.
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Friend-of-the-court briefs filed with U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
- Advocates Protecting Children, Billy Burleigh, Kathy Grace Duncan, and Laura Perry Smalts
- Indiana Family Institute
- Medical professionals Michael K. Laidlaw, M.D.; Quentin L. Van Meter, M.D.; Andre Van Mol, M.D.; Jeffrey E. Hansen, Ph.D.; Michelle A. Cretella, M.D.; and Erin Everitt, Ph.D.
- NC Values Institute
- Our Duty - USA
- States of Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia
- Women’s Liberation Front
- Young America's Foundation
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ABOUT Rory Gray
Rory Gray, Esq., serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he plays a strategic role on the Appellate Advocacy Team. Since joining ADF in 2011, Gray has worked diligently on key cases to preserve religious freedom and free speech in America. He has served as a member of the main litigation teams in Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission,Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer,Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, and Reed v. Town of Gilbert. Additionally, Gray has written briefs at all levels of federal and state courts, including an amicus brief in Newdow v. Congress of the United States, in which the Second Circuit upheld the use of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” on U.S. currency. Gray earned his J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 2007. Before graduating, he completed the ADF leadership development program to become a Blackstone Fellow in 2005. After law school, Gray clerked for the Hon. Bobby R. Baldock on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit from 2007-2009 and for the Hon. G. Steven Agee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit from 2009-2011. A member of the state bars of Georgia, Arizona, and Virginia, Gray is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various appellate and trial courts.
ABOUT David Cortman
David A. Cortman serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He has been practicing law since 1996, and currently supervises a team of over 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family. Cortman has litigated hundreds of constitutional law cases including two victories at the U.S. Supreme Court. In Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, he secured a 7-2 victory that overturned Missouri’s denial of a religious school’s participation in a state funding program. Cortman also argued Reed v. Town of Gilbert, securing a 9-0 ruling that prohibits the government from discriminating against religious speech. A member of the bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, he is also admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Cortman obtained his J.D. magna cum laude from Regent University School of Law.