A federal court ruled last week that an Ohio school district violated the First Amendment rights of a Christian teacher, which experts are hailing as a victory for free speech and religious liberty.
Hired as a full-time English teacher at the end of the 2021 academic school year, Vivian Geraghty had resigned from her position in 2022 after being told to use a student’s “preferred pronouns.” The argument she gave in her lawsuit was that the use of pronouns that didn’t reflect the child’s biological sex “would force her to embrace the concept of gender identity against her religious belief that God created two unchanging sexes, male and female.”
According to district court Judge Pamela Barker, the Jackson Local School District “compelled Geraghty to use the students’ preferred names and pronouns.” In doing so, it forced the teacher “to utter what was not in her mind about a question of political and religious significance.”
Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, posted on X that the court’s decision is “good news for freedom of belief.”
“Schools cannot force teachers, administrators, or students to use ‘preferred pronouns’ when doing so would violate their beliefs—religious or otherwise,” she added. “Gender identity makes a rotten foundation for case law. More victories like this one are certain to come.”
Thomas Jipping, also at The Heritage Foundation, further noted that this is “further evidence that … these gender policies are NOT related to curriculum or administration where schools receive deference. These are ideological policies schools are choosing to impose on kids and families.”
Arielle Del Turco, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, shared with The Washington Stand, “It’s good to see the court affirm this teacher’s First Amendment rights in this case.” Ultimately, “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.”
Schools are meant for learning, Del Turco contended, so they “should stay out of the business of forcing ideological conformity.” Thankfully, she added, “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.”
David Closson, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, gave a biblical analysis to the situation Geraghty found herself in. “The pernicious lie of LGBTQ ideology is causing irreparable harm amongst so many young people today,” he said. “I commend Geraghty for her bold stance against an ideology that is destructive and responsible for sowing harm and confusion amongst children in classrooms.”
Since the case is not the first of its kind, and it likely won’t be the last, Closson emphasized the importance of dissecting the case from a biblical worldview to better prepare for when it comes up again.
The fact is, he observed, “God created male and female and the idea that someone can change their gender is not only nonsensical from a scientific perspective but has no grounding in the Bible or Christian theology.” And while “it is never easy to take a stand for truth, the consequences of not taking this stand could potentially cost many lives of the next generation.” As such, he contended, Christians need to be fervently praying.
With the start of a new school year, “Christians everywhere should be in prayer for teachers and especially believers who are serving in the classroom”—particularly believers who teach in public or non-Christian schools. For them, Closson pointed out, “the pressure to conform to gender ideology is stronger now than it ever has been.” And so, “We need to be praying for teachers to have the courage of their convictions.” Not simply so that “their own civil rights are protected by school administration officials, but also so that they may “be light and salt in the environment that the Lord has them in.”
In addition to praying for teachers, Closson emphasized the need to pray for the students. “It’s important to remember that between kindergarten and 12th grade, a student will spend 16,000 hours in a formal classroom environment.” This means believers need to pray “for the Christian students facing thousands of hours of instruction that often undermines a biblical worldview,” he urged.
Pray, Closson concluded, “that they will be able to separate truth from lies and take a stand for God’s Word when everything around them is going to be encouraging them to embrace unbiblical ideologies and worldviews.”
