The Wisconsin English teacher, Jordan Cernek, argues in the suit that the district violated his freedom of religion and free speech in mandating the use of the students' preferred names and pronouns.

The Wisconsin English teacher, Jordan Cernek, argues in the suit that the district violated his freedom of religion and free speech in mandating the use of the students’ preferred names and pronouns.

A high school English teacher is suing a Wisconsin school district, alleging it did not renew his contract last year because he refused to use the preferred names of two transgender students.

Jordan Cernek’s federal lawsuit alleges the Argyle School District violated his constitutional and civil rights to be free of religious discrimination and to be able to express himself according to his religious beliefs when it did not renew his contract because he refused to abide by a requirement that teachers use the names or pronouns requested by students.

  • 𝔼𝕩𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕒@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Man how hard it must be to suck it up, and just do something you don’t agree with because your job said to. What a fucking child of an adult.

    This isn’t a new debate, he chose to work in a field where he was gonna be asked to do this eventually. I have to call people “valued customers” all day and don’t agree with it, I don’t see how this is any harder for him to adapt to in his field. (Not that pronoun requests are frivolous and dumb, they’re easy to just…do)

  • irotsoma@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    No “personal freedom” to violate the rights of others should exist when you are acting on behalf of the government, just like you can’t advertise AT&T’s service while on a call working tech support for Verizon and not expect to get fired.

  • Passerby6497@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    “Teacher suing school after being fired for being purposely hurtful to students for ReLiGeOuS rEsSoNs”

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    He better not fucking win. Apart from it being bigoted against trans kids, this opens the door for teachers to give kids whatever insulting nicknames they want. Call the clumsy kid the r-word? Don’t violate his free speech! Call the black kid the n-word? The Book of Mormon clearly says black people are inferior! Don’t violate his freedom of religion!

    • Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      0·
      6 months ago

      He better not fucking win. Apart from it being bigoted against trans kids, this opens the door for teachers to give kids whatever insulting nicknames they want.

      Put Elon back in school and call him Cis.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        No need. He’s already getting schooled on his own platform daily by trans, intersex, nonbinary, and cis people of all ages, sexualities, races, and nationalities.

        He’s a unifier: uniting the world in opposition of his bigotry and general obnoxiousness!

    • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      6 months ago

      He better not fucking win because a public school teacher needs to check their religion at the door. The SC said that private businesses can practice their religion as part of commerce but this is the public sector. Kim Davis lost her case about refusing the same sex marriage license due to “her religion” and this should follow.

  • Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Yep, and good riddance.

    If students do not feel respected, then they will neither give respect nor learn. You call a kid what they want to be called. Without a sense of shared community, the classroom will fail.

    Additionally, there is not a religion on earth that says you can’t use people’s nicknames, preferred names, chosen names, or whatever. This guy can go eat a bag of Dicks.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      We had two kids my age that wanted to be called by Final Fantasy character names. AFAIK, no one had any problem with it.

      • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
        0·
        6 months ago

        I had a classmate that hated her name that went by Peaches. She would politely correct each teacher each year, and it was done.

        The only time I ever saw her have an issue was with a shitheel sub who refused to call her that, and the class literally revolted. Started yelling “thats her name” and “what’s your problem!” We just brutalized that dude for the whole class hour about it. Never saw him again.

        It was great.

        • person420@lemmynsfw.com
          0·
          6 months ago

          To be fair, lots of students mess with subs. It’s possible the sub assumed the kids were fucking with them.

          • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
            0·
            6 months ago

            She wasn’t, and this guy double/tripled down. We only started yelling at him after he tried to lambast her about her name repeatedly.

            She really was sweet as peaches, too. Nobody was going to let some rando asshole treat her bad about her name.

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
    0·
    6 months ago

    What religion requires you to use someone’s birth name? It can’t be Christianity since people always go around calling that one dude Jesus when his birth name was Yeshua.

  • alienanimals@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Someone should start going by the name, “I owe you 5 dollars”. It’s a fool-proof way to get rich quick.

  • steel_nomad@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    You can identify as whatever you want, but your right to do that stops dead at my right to address you as i see you. Beard and long hair and a dress? Sir/He. Breasts? Ma’am/She. I cant believe this is even a discussion. Your delusion is not my problem or responsibility.

    • un_owen@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      Hmm, I see you as someone who is called Mr Poopyface, I guess it’s alright if I call you that then, Mr Poopyface?

    • catbum@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      It took me all of 90 seconds to read through your comment history and confirm you are in some kind of pain, the kind that breeds misplaced anger at the lack of stability in your own identity.

      You did, however, ponder one valuable bit of insight at the end of your recent AITA post (15 days ago) regarding your wife quitting her job and her not listening to you. Please follow your instinct here. Please do be open to your wife about going your separate ways.

      Real talk, she will be better off without you. You act as if she’s holding you back, all the while it sounds like she’s been holding you up. It seems you are the one holding both of you back, and projecting this financial and identity instability onto others is illustrative of your own issues.

      You don’t seem like a legitimate troll. You seem like you’re fighting for your own identity and you’re projecting your frustrations by asserting other people are deluded in knowing who they are and somehow insane for wanting a modicum of human respect. Yet I think you and many, many others like you, are those truly struggling.

      I think you are currently showing a lack of respect to others because, deep down, you don’t respect yourself. And that is not okay. Needing and seeking help and direction from others, including mental health professionals, is not a blue-haired liberal thing, it’s a human thing. Please consider it.

      • steel_nomad@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        Nah, actually i am just trolling. I just love reading the unhinged responses. Also, that post was for a friend who is in a very dark place and due to anxiety and other issues, doesnt use social media and wanted some advice. I read the responses with him and there was some good genuine concern and advice from people, so im happy it helped him. As for me, im just here for the lulz. And my psychologist and lawyer both just said not to talk to you anymore.

        • catbum@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Aaaaand now I wonder if you (and your friend) are experiencing a wicked case of DID. Please consult your totally real psychologist on that for more info on how to reign in your diverging personalities. (Wouldn’t wanna have to get your lawyer involved, you know, like if your online troll personality state starts wreaking legal havoc in real life. Who would be to blame? You?! Or you?!!?!)

          Serious question. And making the forgiving assumption your “friend” wasn’t just a cover story. This troll business you opened up here, do you you actually believe and stand behind what you profess?

            • catbum@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              6 months ago

              [Ah yes, a solid B+ troll, using the “are you all right” trope to get a rise out of me. The following would be my “rise.”]

              Oh for cripes sake, can you not see I was leaning into your trolling mindset with my first bit?!! Keep fuckin moving the goalpost, y’all are good at that.

              [Yes, I clearly suspended my disbelief in trying to see what exactly is legitimate under all of what you’ve said so far. It’s a fascinating occupation you’ve taken on, Professional Troll of Dubious Intent (PTODI), but if even if you actually don’t harbor these shitty thoughts against people, you are literally, actually right this moment making the entire platform of discourse shittier. I guess I should step outside my human brain and understand that some purported humans just want to watch the world burn. Sigh… Fuckin PTODIs.]

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
          0·
          6 months ago

          Nah, actually i am just trolling

          We are who we pretend to be. If you’re so good at “pretending” to be a bigoted idiot that no one can tell, what’s the difference between that and actually being a bigoted idiot?

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      You can identify as whatever you want, but your right to do that stops dead at my right to address you as i see you.

      OK, cool. So you’re good with me addressing you as Mr. Baby Rapist then?

  • ObliviousEnlightenment@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Just wanna point out, noone is threatening the teachers right to be a dick, just lost his government job over it. This is basic seperation of church and state. A member of a racist religion would be fired for trying to only teach white kids.

    • CeruleanRuin@lemmings.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      It’s pretty weak to begin with to claim it’s his religious right to be an asshole to people. If some kid was named Alphonzious and wanted people to call him Al, but you insisted on using the name he hates instead, that’s just you being a huge dick, and it’s the school’s prerogative to fire you for it. Gender doesn’t even come into it.

      Go ahead and claim your religion requires you to be an obnoxious toolbag bully to children. Good luck finding work, shitheel.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’m a transgender teacher that can’t work in public schools because I’m trans.

    In fact, Oklahoma has executive ordered trans people out of existence.

    Can I get news coverage please?

    • Jojo, Lady of the West@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      0·
      6 months ago

      Bring a lawsuit, I guess? I worry it could go up to the supreme court to decide if the law banning you from working in a school is constitutional, and I don’t trust our current supreme court with that decision

      • andros_rex@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        I’ve reached out to multiple federal agencies, and no one can agree on who has jurisdiction. And my local ACLU won’t do shit, because as you pointed out, the Supreme Court is itching to set lots of fucked up precedents.

        I took out TEACH grants - agreed to serve as a teacher for four years. After three years they ripped the ground out from underneath me.

        • Jojo, Lady of the West@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          0·
          6 months ago

          Super shitty, my friend. I’m sorry. I lost my teaching job when I came out too, but I worked for a study of alternative Christian high school/middle school with like 30 students max so I kinda knew mine was coming.

  • Zahille7@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Idk man. When I was in school before everyone started coming out as trans and such, all my teachers would still ask if there was a different name you preferred on like the first day of school. And they suck to it. It didn’t matter if the student was gay, straight, trans, or whatever; they still had a preferred name they liked to be called by, the teachers asked, and they respected it. I’d like to think those teachers of mine would continue this practice and not have an issue with it, but you never really know.

    • TallonMetroid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      That was my experience as well, but then I grew in San Francisco, which is like the gay hippie commie Mecca that the Christofascists jerk themselves off on hating. Plus we had a lot of minority students with potentially difficult to pronounce ethnic names, so that might also have been a factor.

      • Zahille7@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        Makes sense. My personal experience with this is coming from a small Midwest city in elementary and middle school. By the time we got to high school, the teachers just knew because it was in your record by that point.

    • quantumantics@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      Teacher here; this is the first thing I do on day one with new students! You want to build a classroom community of mutual respect; failure to do so makes for a hostile classroom and a wasted year.

  • graphene@lemm.ee
    0·
    6 months ago

    Trans people should start their own religion and then claim bigots are violating their right to freedom of religion or whatever