Teacher Free to Misgender & Out Students Following Trump Judge Ruling
refused to use a student’s preferred name, and instead repeatedly referred to the student as “Miss [student’s last name],” despite being reminded multiple times of the student’s preferred pronouns.
Ricard received a three-day suspension with pay for violating 11 of the district’s policies around bullying, diversity, and inclusion.
This led the teacher to sue the district, stating, “Any policy that requires Ms. Ricard to refer to a student by a gendered, non-binary, or plural pronoun (e.g., he/him, she/her, they/them, zhe/zher, etc.) or salutation (Mr., Miss, Ms.) or other gendered language that is different from the student’s biological sex actively violates Ms.
Ricard’s religious beliefs.”“Ms. Ricard believes that God created human beings as either male or female, that this sex is fixed in each person from the moment of conception, and that it cannot be changed, regardless of an individual person’s feelings, desires, or preferences,” the suit states.With the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has been named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Ricard won the injunction, which was brought before Trump-appointed District Judge Holly Teeter.In her ruling, Teeter said that the “plaintiff believes that addressing students one way at school and a different way when speaking to their parents is dishonest,” which “violates her sincere religious beliefs,” The Topeka Capital-Journal reports.Ricard has two trans students and neither of them has given the district permission to tell their parents their preferred names and pronouns, the paper reports Teeter wrote in the ruling.
