Ohio Teacher Wins $450,000 Settlement After Resigning Over Pronoun Policy
An Ohio public school teacher who resigned after refusing to comply with a district policy requiring the use of students’ preferred pronouns and names has reached a $450,000 settlement with the school district.
Vivian Geraghty, a middle school language arts teacher, filed a lawsuit against the Jackson Local School District in 2022, arguing that the policy violated her First Amendment rights. The case arose after Geraghty declined to address two students by “their new gender identities rather than their legal names,” according to the New York Post. Additionally, she refused to use the preferred pronouns of another student who cited the school policy, arguing it violated her “religious beliefs and constitutional rights.”
According to the lawsuit, the district informed Geraghty that adhering to the policy was mandatory and, when she refused, pressured her to resign.
The settlement was finalized last month, following an August ruling by a district court that found the policy to be “not neutral” and determined that compelling Geraghty to use preferred pronouns constituted “compelled speech.”
Logan Spena, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Geraghty, criticized the district’s policy as an overreach.
“The school tried to force Vivian to accept and repeat the school’s viewpoint on issues that go to the foundation of morality and human identity, like what makes us male or female, by ordering her to personally participate in the social transition of her students,” Spena told NBC 4 Ohio.
“The First Amendment prohibits that abuse of power, and Jackson Local School District officials have learned that comes at a steep cost,” Spena added.
