Ohio Teacher Suit Over Student Names, Pronouns Headed for Trial

An apostolic Protestant middle school teacher who resigned instead of using transitioning students’ preferred names is headed to a trial on her free-speech and freedom-of-religion claims, an Ohio federal judge ruled.

Vivian Geraghty established, without a trial, that requiring her to use preferred names and pronouns amounts to compelled speech, that the speech didn’t involve her ordinary job duties, and that Jackson Local School District’s policy on the issue wasn’t generally applicable, the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio said Monday.

The fact issues requiring a trial include whether allowing middle school students to choose their names and pronouns is developmentally appropriate and whether Geraghty resigned voluntarily or had no meaningful choice, the court said.

Only after a jury answers those questions can it be legally determined whether the interests of the school board and three officials in requiring Geraghty to do what students prefer outweighed her First Amendment rights, Judge Pamela A. Barker said. The decision is the latest to wade in on the hot-button issue, which Barker said concerns a question of religious and political importance.

The judge cited “diametrically opposed” expert opinions on whether following student preference creates a supportive and safe learning environment or interferes in the natural process middle school students grapple with as they come to terms with physiological and sexual anatomic functions for the first time. Geraghty’s medical expert disputes that studies show gender-identity-affirming practices like preferred names and pronouns really reduce the risks of suicide or suicidal thoughts compared to other measures, Barker said.

Requiring Geraghty to follow student preference was compelled speech because it sought to force her to utter something that wasn’t in her mind, the court said. The defendants failed with their argument that they only wanted to stop Geraghty from continuing to deadname students who wanted to go by their new names. There was no dispute Geraghty left because she refused to use students’ preferred names and pronouns, the court said.

The speech didn’t involve Geraghty’s ordinary job duties even though it occurred in the classroom on class time, because she was a middle school English teacher, Barker said. Geraghty’s position didn’t require teaching LGBTQ+ issues, which weren’t even part of her school’s curriculum, the judge said.

The defendants weren’t entitled to summary judgment on the ground that requiring employees to use preferred names and pronouns is neutral and generally applicable, because the evidence showed there was no official policy, the court said. “The lack of a written policy” meant whatever practice the school district followed was “a moving target” that may not have even been mandatory, the court said.

A jury also needs to determine whether Geraghty’s assertion of her First Amendment rights caused her allegedly forced resignation, Barker said.

Geraghty failed with her deprivation-of-due-process claims, because it was clear what the school district wanted her to do, the judge said.

Alliance Defending Freedom and Gallagher Kavinsky & Burkhart LPA represent Geraghty. Plakas Mannos represents the defendants.

The case is Geraghty v. Jackson Local Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 2024 BL 277147, N.D. Ohio, No. 5:22-cv-02237, 8/12/24.