Indiana music teacher secures $650K settlement in religious discrimination case
An Indiana music teacher who lost his job because he refused to go against his religious beliefs and call trans-identified students by their preferred names and pronouns has reached a hefty six-figure settlement with his former employer.
The conservative nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom announced in a statement Tuesday that former Indiana music teacher John Kluge has reached a $650,000 settlement as part of his religious discrimination case against Brownsburg Community School Corporation.
The teacher was forced to resign in 2018 after the district threatened to fire him for declining to comply with a new policy requiring teachers to refer to trans-identified students by names and pronouns that align with their stated gender identity rather than their sex. The policy also forced teachers to report signs of gender confusion in students to school officials and not to parents.
“After almost five and a half years, common sense has prevailed at Brownsburg,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman. “This settlement confirms what the law has always said: Public schools cannot force teachers to violate their religious beliefs. Title VII requires employers to accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs and practices. When they fail to do so–or worse, announce that they will grant no religious accommodations, as Brownsburg did–they can be held accountable.”
Cortman said the settlement sends a signal to teachers that "they do not have to bow the knee to ideological mandates that violate their religious beliefs."
“Schools should learn that refusing to accommodate religious employees can be illegal and expensive," he added.
Kluge and ADF accused the school district of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of religion. After a federal district court judge and a three-judge panel on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Kluge, the former music teacher petitioned for the entire 7th Circuit to hear his case in 2023.
Last year, a three-judge panel on the 7th Circuit ordered the lower court to reconsider its conclusion that accommodating Kluge’s religious beliefs by allowing him to refer to students by only their last names constituted an undue hardship on the school district. The appellate court also determined that Kluge should have the opportunity to present his case before a jury.
The school district’s settlement with Kluge brings the years of litigation to an end. Kluge and the school district officials named as defendants in the lawsuit filed a joint stipulation of dismissal on Tuesday.
As part of the settlement, the Brownsburg Community School Corporation agreed to train its senior staff on how Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on their religious beliefs.
“It won’t bring back the job I love, but it does offer substantial financial compensation — $650,000 — for the loss, hardships and litigation of the last almost seven years,” Kluge wrote in an op-ed published by The Indianapolis Star on Wednesday.
“Beyond just the personal victory, though, my case has larger implications for other educators who hold strong religious convictions — implications Brownsburg officials still want to hide from their teachers,” he added. “For one thing, Title VII has teeth again. The highest court in the land has ruled that employers must accommodate their religious employees, and that this obligation cannot be easily evaded.”
The implications of the ruling "will mean different things to people of different faiths," Kluge wrote, adding that it will mean "schools cannot force teachers to parrot transgender terms — calling girls boys and boys girls — just to keep their jobs."
"Brownsburg agreed to train some administrators on these legalities, but it refused to tell its hundreds of teachers of the rights that the law now affords them," Kluge added. "I hope my settlement helps spread the word that the greatest of our freedoms — religious liberty — still applies in our workplaces.”
Due to the experiences faced by Kluge and other teachers across the U.S., laws prohibiting schools from requiring teachers and school employees to refer to trans-identified students and employees by their preferred pronouns have been enacted in Idaho, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
