Teacher Wins in Court After Being Fired for Refusing to Use Preferred Pronouns

On Monday, a teacher in Wisconsin who had been fired for refusing to use the “preferred pronouns” of students who believed themselves to be “transgender” won a legal settlement with his former employer.

As reported by the Daily Caller, Jordan Cernek had been an English teacher with the Argyle School District until his contract was not renewed, after two students in the 2022-2023 academic year demanded that staff refer to them by their preferred names and pronouns. Following his termination, Cernek sued the school district in July of 2024, claiming a violation of his First Amendment right to freedom of religion, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The lawsuit was filed on Cernek’s behalf by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

“Mr. Cernek has a sincerely held religious belief that God makes no mistakes when it comes to sex and gender and that calling a transgender student by a name or pronouns at odds with their biological sex would cause Mr. Cernek to affirm that God made a mistake in creating a transgender person as a male or a female,” the lawsuit read in part. “In Mr. Cernek’s religious view, affirming a transgender person’s identity through the use of preferred names and pronouns would be speaking a falsehood and violate his religious beliefs.”

Court records reveal that the school had initially agreed to a religious exemption for Cernek, before suddenly revoking the agreement and ordering him to use the students’ preferred names and pronouns.

The case was dismissed in February following the announcement that both parties had reached a settlement. The school district confirmed in a statement that it had agreed to pay the amount of $20,000 to Cernek.