Professor says contract was not renewed because he did not use preferred names of trans students

A high school English teacher is suing a Wisconsin school district, claiming it did not renew his contract last year because he refused to use the preferred names of two transgender students.

Jordan Cernek’s federal lawsuit alleges that the Argyle School District in Argyle, Wisconsin, violated his constitutional and civil rights to be free from religious discrimination and to be able to express himself in accordance with his religious beliefs when the district allegedly failed to renew his contract because he refused to comply with the requirement that teachers use the names or pronouns requested by students.

“District politics would force me to go against my conviction and commitment to God,” Cernak said in a statement from his lawyers. “I have done everything in my power to accommodate the needs of my students without compromising my faith.”

The suit, which argues that non-renewal amounted to the teacher’s firing, repeatedly cites the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its section of Title VII prohibiting discrimination in the workplace.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin last month, it seeks undisclosed damages, attorneys’ fees and a declaration that the district violated Cernak’s First Amendment rights and his rights not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex or national origin.

Argyle School District Superintendent Randy Refsland said in an email Tuesday night that he could not comment because the matter was being litigated in court.

The lawsuit says two of Cernak’s students were previously known to him as biologically female, but recently changed to new names, which Cernak refused to pronounce. The district pressed the issue with him and, the lawsuit claims, allowed him to move forward using physical gestures, such as pointing them out for discussions, rather than using their new names.

But after one of the students expressed dissatisfaction with the situation — the student’s father was described as a fellow district teacher — the district demanded adherence to the policy on using students’ preferred names and pronouns, according to the lawsuit.

The school board discussed the matter privately, as is customary with personnel matters, and held a vote last year that led to Cernak’s contract ending without renewal, the document said.

The lawsuit blames the district for allegedly agreeing to allow the teacher to move forward, avoiding using the transgender students’ new names, but ultimately saying the educator was bound by its name and pronoun policy, first announced in 2022.

Cernek taught several grades of English at Argyle High School, as well as Advanced Placement English to seniors, according to the lawsuit.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which describe yourself as a nonprofit dedicated to the rights of conservatives and libertarians, is leading the charge. His deputy attorney, Luke Berg, and his associate attorney, Lauren Greuel, said in a statement that seeking to respect students’ gender identities conflicts with the long-standing rights of people like the Cerneks.

Greul said this fight over first names and pronouns will be crucial for “everyday Americans across the country.”

Argyle’s policy is one of many across the country that seek to recognize the evolving nature of gender identity and pronouns amid research that indicates LGTBQ+ students do better in school when identified according to their name and pronouns. preferred.

One 2022 report on pronouns from the Minnesota Department of Health says correct use of preferred pronouns “saves lives.” He cites the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey in stating that nearly half of LGBTQ+ students in the state reported that they have seriously considered suicide. But transgender and non-binary students who said their pronouns were respected by everyone they interacted with attempted suicide at half the rate of those who did not experience such respect, the department said.

THE National Institutes of Healthhowever, it says, “Intentional refusal to use someone’s correct pronouns is tantamount to harassment and a violation of someone’s civil rights.”

The nonprofit Fair Wisconsin, which advocates for a state free of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, said the state does not specifically protect gender identity or expression, but many school districts have taken responsibility to do so through policies like the Argyle district.

“Fair Wisconsin recognizes the harmful impacts of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the political sphere and we want to make sure LGBTQ+ youth know they are loved, supported, and that we are with you,” the group said on Facebook last week in response to the latest Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Surveywhich found that LGBTQ+ and female students “reported a disproportionate number of mental health challenges compared to their peers.”