“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
— Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, sc. 2
A teacher claims he was forced to resign when he refused to call a transgender student by their preferred name, because he (of course) says it goes against his religion.
Now, I grant that I respect freedom of religion, and being compelled to do something against one’s conscience is a hard thing. And I respect freedom of speech, and being compelled to certain speech by the state is a non-trivial burden.
But. Dude.
What if Mr. Kluge decided to refer to a student who was an unwed mother as “Harlot,” because he felt religiously obliged to do so?
What if he refused to call a student named Muhammed (by birth or through conversion) by his name because he felt the name honored someone who blasphemed against Jesus?
What if he refused to call a student by a new last name due to their mother remarrying, because divorce is a sin against God and to use the stepfather’s last name would be to support such a sinful and destructive action?
What if he refused to allow female students to play in his orchestra because women should keep silent? Or refused to allow them to play the cello because his religious beliefs made him think that it was immodest for women to do so?
Would we even be having this as a serious discussion right now?
“I’m being compelled to encourage students in what I believe is something that’s a dangerous lifestyle,” Kluge told the Indy Star last week.
So, if you felt that playing high school football was dangerous (something that legitimate medical evidence indicates), and you refused to allow students an excused absence from class for participating in that sport, even against school policy, would that be okay?
“I’m fine to teach students with other beliefs, but the fact that teachers are being compelled to speak a certain way is the scary thing.”
No, you are being asked to follow school district policy, which allows for a change of name (for transgender purposes) with approval of the parents and a health care professional.
Using their registered preferred name is not a religious burden. It’s, frankly, none of your business what name is registered in the school database, or why.
I’m sorry, Mr Kluge — your religious identity doesn’t get to trump a student’s personal identity (esp. as affirmed by their parents). That’s part of the respect that a teacher owes their students, even beyond district policy.
——
UPDATE: This newspaper article gives a bit more info According to it, Kluge had been referring to all students by their last name this year, to avoid having to say the particular student’s changed first name. It seems the district decided that wasn’t an adequate solution to the situation, but it’s also not clear we have all the facts here.
Things are further muddled by religious conservative groups swarming to Kluge’s defense, asserting, “”It appears that the real intolerance at Brownsburg High School lies in the hands of the administration against teachers who hold a sincere faith and a sacrificial love for their student.” It’s not clear in what way Mr. Kluge’s approach to this has resembled “sacrificial love.”
The religious groups have also stirred up trouble (of course) over the parts of the district policy that say a transgender student — again, this is after a parent and a health care professional have signed off on this — can use the restroom of their identified gender. Cue parents clutching their pearls and worried that some nefarious teen rapist will somehow go through the process of convincing his parents and doctor that he is actually a transwoman and to submit paperwork to the school district, solely to sneak into the girls’ bathroom. Because of course that would happen.
District approves resignation of Brownsburg teacher who refused to call trans students by preferred names
BROWNSBURG, Ind. – The Brownsburg Community School Corporation says the resignation of an orchestra teacher who refused to call transgender students by their preferred name has been approved.The announcement was made at Monday night’s school board meeting, which teacher John Kluge was in attendance to try and rescind his resignation.
I can’t get around the very first step. Let’s assume his religion says being transgender is wrong (it doesn’t). Let’s assume his religion is right. That still doesn’t mean his religion says “you can’t call someone the name they use”. I’m just at a loss. Is if they recognize that someone exists then they’ll have committed a sin? What’s the rationale?
I've got one for you. suppose that a student changed their name from, say lewis to something like kareem. or from something like cassius to something like muhammad. would people stand by his obviously bigoted excuse of "but muh religion" then?
What if Joe wants to be called Lee or Kim or Tracy or Jay or René? Another aspect is that John Wayne's real first name was Marion; a famous male author was named Evelyn and if there's a Korean in the room, he may well be a boy named Soo.
+Kee Hinckley His argument — at least as he presents it — is less that his religion says Trans = Bad and Trans Names = DoublePlusUngood, but that being transgender is a "dangerous lifestyle" and that anything he does to support that, including acknowledging a name change, is against his religion ("for the children!").
It's still a goofy argument.
+c I can't see anything in his arguments that would indicate that he couldn't similarly dispute such name changes, "for the children!"