First-grade teacher threatened with termination for refusing to read LGBT-themed book: attorneys

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Sunday, February 22, 2026

A first-grade teacher in Nashville, Tennessee, claims that he was threatened with termination and reassigned to a new position after requesting religious accommodations to avoid reading books to children that promote same-sex marriage, which would have conflicted with his beliefs about marriage and sexuality. 

Eric Rivera is a devout Christian who taught first-grade students at KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School, according to a Wednesday statement from the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit public interest law firm.  KIPP is a public charter school that operates under the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.

According to a letter First Liberty Institute sent to school officials on Rivera’s behalf on Tuesday, the conflict began in January, when Rivera noticed that the selected Language Arts curriculum for his class included a book featuring a same-sex couple and their child. 

“Requiring a teacher violate their religious beliefs in order to keep their job is blatant discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act,” Cliff Martin, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post.

“Our client cares deeply about his students and simply has a religious objection to teaching certain lessons and asked for a simple religious accommodation,” Martin continued. “The school has sent the message that anyone who has a traditional view of marriage is unfit to teach first grade.”

KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

The legal group’s letter stated that it would “pursue available remedies accordingly” if it did not receive a response from the school by Friday.

One of the books Rivera was asked to read to his students was Stella Brings the Family, as WZTV reports. The book tells the story of a girl with two dads who is worried about how to celebrate Mother’s Day without a mom. 

Rivera felt the material in the book conflicted with his religious beliefs and that he could not, in “good conscience,” read it to his students and lead a discussion about it. The teacher requested that a colleague read the book to the students on Jan. 6 instead, while he remained in the classroom to observe. 

The following day, the first-grade teacher received a summons to the principal’s office, where he says that he was issued a “Final Warning” letter and threatened with termination.

“The letter accused Mr. Rivera of failing to meet the ‘expectation’ of teaching the curriculum ‘with fidelity,’ and stated that as a result of his conduct, students will ‘miss content aligned with the scope of the unit,’” First Liberty Institute recounts in its letter to school officials. 

“Not only was the curriculum still taught to his first-grade class via substitute, but KIPP’s position sends the message that anyone who holds the same religious beliefs and values as Mr. Rivera is incapable of teaching at their school while maintaining ‘fidelity’ to their chosen curriculum,” First Liberty Institute’s letter reads. “Mr. Rivera was further directed to ‘maintain fidelity to the curriculum, teaching all lessons in the KIPP Nashville Scope and Sequence.’”

In addition to threatening further disciplinary action such as termination, the “Final Warning” letter also stated, “A copy of this unsatisfactory notice is being placed in your personnel file.”

Rivera claims that he had not received any prior warnings from the school before they issued the “Final Warning” letter, nor had he been subject to any disciplinary actions. The Christian teacher says that he later accepted a teaching technology position before switching to a kindergarten position. 

“Mr. Rivera stated he believed he should be able to teach first grade consistent with his convictions by having another teacher read the two books in the curriculum that he objected to,” First Liberty Institute’s letter states. 

“However, the principal indicated that the belief in same-sex marriage is so fundamental to the language arts unit that Mr. Rivera could not possibly be permitted to teach any portion of the unit, and therefore had to be removed from the first grade classroom,” the document reads. 

In the letter, the attorneys contend that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it "unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any individual with respect to religion and also requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would impose an 'undue hardship' on the conduct of the employer’s business.” 

The attorneys argue that “KIPP cannot demonstrate any undue hardship here" and that "KIPP failed to reasonably accommodate Mr. Rivera in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”

The attorneys also believe that KIPP may have violated the U.S. Constitution and Tennessee law by failing to provide parental notification of “sexual orientation or gender identity curriculum.”

In a statement shared with WZTV, the Tennessee Charter School Commission explained that all charter schools are expected to follow "the same Tennessee academic standards as traditional public schools, and while they do have flexibility selecting curriculum and materials, they must still be aligned with those same state standards."

"All schools are required to comply with the prohibited concepts law and must provide a form on their website for reporting violations," the commission states. "The Commission provides a form for submitting complaints related to the prohibited concepts law as well as any other violations of charter school law on our website. Teachers and staff at charter schools are employees of the school or charter operator and as such all personnel matters are handled by the school.”

A case involving parental requests for accommodations from materials that conflict with religious beliefs concluded with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that parents can opt their children out of a Maryland school district's LGBT-themed curriculum materials. 

In a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled in Mahmoud, Tamer, et al. v. Taylor, Thomas W., et al. that Montgomery County Public Schools cannot force children to be exposed to LGBT-themed books in the curriculum if their parents oppose.

Justice Samuel Alito authored the opinion of the court, being joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas.

"A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses 'a very real threat of undermining' the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill," wrote Alito.

"And a government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on parents' acceptance of such instruction. Based on these principles, we conclude that the parents are likely to succeed in their challenge to the Board's policies."