Music teacher gets partial victory in LGBTQ suit

When orchestra teacher John Kluge learned about a new school policy requiring him to refer to students by names and pronouns that don’t match their sex, he came up with a compromise: calling them only by their last names. It wouldn’t be any different from how coaches refer to their athletes, he reasoned. Kluge assured Brownsburg Community School Corporation that he would treat his students equally and wouldn’t tell them the religious reason behind his actions.

The Indiana district allowed Kluge to teach this way at first. But a few months later, partway through the 2017-18 school year, officials informed him they had received a handful of complaints. They told Kluge that he could either agree to refer to students by their preferred names by the end of the year or resign. If he didn’t resign, he would be fired and lose his summer pay.

In June 2018, Kluge submitted his resignation, ending his four years of work at the school.

On Tuesday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a jury must decide whether Brownsburg Community School Corporation in Indiana religiously discriminated against John Kluge when it forced the music teacher to resign.

Shortly after the school rolled out its transgender policy in 2017, Kluge requested an accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination. He said that his proposal to refer to all students by their last names helped him avoid violating his beliefs that God created biologically based gender and sex. Title VII requires employers to accommodate an employee’s religious practices unless doing so imposes an “undue hardship” on the organization.

Kluge filed a lawsuit against the school in 2019 in a district court, which ruled in favor of the school. Kluge appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021, but it sent the case back to the district court three years later, asking it to reevaluate Kluge’s case in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy. Groff increased the burden employers must meet to deny religious accommodations.

Despite the high court’s ruling, the district court denied Kluge’s petition a second time. He filed a second appeal with the 7th Circuit in July 2024, once again asking the court to reverse the lower court decision. Kluge argued that, under Groff, Brownsburg can’t prove that Kluge’s accommodations caused “undue hardship” on the school.

“Third-party grumblings—from a minuscule fraction of constituents—don’t show ‘undue hardship’ in accommodating him or justify Brownsburg excluding accommodations and forcing him to resign,” states the opening brief filed on behalf of the teacher. “Kluge is a devout man who believe[s] district policies required him to tell a lie dangerous to his students and perilous to his soul.”

In Tuesday’s ruling, Kluge received a partial win as the appeals court acknowledged that Kluge’s religious accommodation likely does not cause undue hardship.

“The school introduced nothing to show that a teacher using one’s last name resulted in ‘emotional distress’ under an objective standard,” Judge Michael Brennan said. “Even if emotional distress qualifies as an undue hardship, Groff requires the employer to prove both that there was a hardship, and that the accommodation caused that hardship.”

But ultimately, a jury needs to weigh in on the case, as it’s unclear if Kluge’s last-name-only accommodation emotionally hurt students, Brennan said. Additionally, a jury should decide how sincerely Kluge holds his beliefs. The judge said the former teacher’s beliefs are under question because he referred to students by their preferred pronouns once during an orchestra awards ceremony.

Dissenting from the majority, Judge Ilana Rovner contended that a jury should not “sit as a super-personnel department and second-guess the employer’s good-faith reasoning” for denying an accommodation. “In my view, this is a substantial departure from longstanding practice in employment discrimination cases,” Rovner added.

Representing Kluge, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Travis Barham said that Brownsburg will not be able to prove Kluge’s accommodation caused undue hardship. It’s laughable to argue that the complaints of a few students rose to district-wide disruption and burden, he said.

“We’re confident … that the jury’s going to hear all this evidence, [and] the jury’s going to recognize that Brownsburg was acting outrageously,” Barham said. “The jury is going to realize that public schools cannot force teachers to abandon their religious beliefs or compel them to speak a lie.”

Additionally, Brownsburg’s contention that Kluge’s religious beliefs are insincere was absurdly argued, Barham said.

“That requires you to ignore everything that John did in this case,” Barham said. “He lost his job rather than compromise with this policy. And if that doesn’t prove sincerity, I don’t know what does.”

If Kluge’s case is successful, the district could be held liable for damages and substantial attorney fees. Barham said Kluge’s case can ensure Brownsburg doesn’t discriminate against any more teachers and send a message nationwide to other schools.

Educational organizations across the country have tried to coerce teachers to use language against their beliefs. In December, a former teacher at an Ohio school received a settlement from the district after officials forced her to resign in a situation similar to Kluge’s.

“School districts need to know that they have a legal obligation to accommodate the religious beliefs and religious practices of their teachers,” Barham said. “This case has gone on for years and years and years. John has stood courageously to defend his legal rights and ensure that this kind of discrimination doesn’t happen to others.”