An English teacher at a Wisconsin public school is suing his former school district after he refused to use two trans students’ personal pronouns and his contract wasn’t renewed.
Teacher Jordan Cernek says being forced to use the trans students’ personal pronouns violated his religious beliefs.
Cernek filed his lawsuit against the Argyle School District last month, alleging that the district violated his First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The devout Christian also alleges the school district violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that protects employees from religious discrimination.
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The district notified Cernek in August 2023 that his contract for the 2023-2024 school year would not be renewed.
“The district policy would force me to go against my conviction and commitment to God,” Cernek said in a statement. “I did everything within my power to accommodate the needs of my students without compromising my faith.”
The far-right conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty represents Cernek in the suit. The firm is litigating several other cases in the state targeting transgender student policies: the group represents a Moms for Liberty “activist” being sued for defamation in one, and is working with Trump administration hack Stephen Miller’s America First Legal on another.
Cernek’s attorney Nathalie Burmeister argued school districts have an obligation under federal law to respect employees’ religious beliefs. Burmeister works at the Wisconsin Institute for Liberty and Law, a conservative legal advocacy group that has filed multiple lawsuits to roll back protections for queer students, one in support of a Moms for Liberty member, and the “right” of child therapists to voice anti-LGBTQ+ views.
“This lawsuit emphasizes the importance of the district’s understanding of its duties under federal law and accommodating the religious beliefs that are protected explicitly under these laws,” she said.
Cernek was hired in August 2021. In a staff meeting a year later, the district announced a policy requiring teachers and administrators to use transgender students’ personal names and pronouns reflecting their gender identities.
According to the lawsuit, Cernek attended the meeting and voiced his objections based on his religious beliefs.
Two of Cernek’s students, both transgender, asked staff to refer to them using their personal names. Cernak informed administrator Mike Beranek that he wouldn’t, but was initially granted an accommodation whereby he would avoid calling the students by any name, instead just nodding or pointing to them.
For a time, Cernek offered to call one of the trans students by their last name, referring to it as a “good middle ground.” The student agreed, but the student’s father, who also taught at the school, objected.
In a letter to Cernek a few months later, administrator Beranek detailed his “expectations” and found that Cernek was not meeting them.
“Students and their families have reported several concerns. There have been reports that you have continued to use the wrong names for transgender students,” he wrote, adding, “It is now clear” that their earlier agreed-to accommodation “is not going to work.”
In response, Cernek replied, “Each person is born a male or a female. There is no deviation from this reality.” Cernek said he wasn’t misgendering students because “the name I call each student is legally and objectively his or her own name from birth. Therefore, I would argue that I am calling students by their right names.”
Cernek is seeking a jury trial.
A 2023 national survey by the Trevor Project found that trans and nonbinary young people called by their personal pronouns reported lower rates of attempted suicide.
Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, told Wisconsin Public Radio that the most important job adults can do for children is to affirm their self-worth.
“The data is clear; using pronouns that affirm a child’s gender identity is a life-saving action, and that makes it the only moral choice,” Swetz said.
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