On August 15, 2024, FFRF filed a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals amicus brief on behalf of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) in support of Brownsburg Community Schools in Indiana. This case centered around a public school orchestra teacher who refused to use the transgender students’ first names. Kluge claimed that using transgender and nonbinary students’ first names violated his religious beliefs. Kluge requested a religious accommodation to only use students’ last names. Initially, the school granted the accommodation. However, students realized Kluge was using last names only in order to avoid saying transgender students’ names, and this disrupted the learning environment, making many students deeply uncomfortable. Kluge eventually resigned and then sued the school claiming that it discriminated against him in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
After a previous loss at the 7th Circuit, Kluge appealed to the Supreme Court. However, it was remanded to the District Court after the Supreme Court’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy, which clarified Title VII’s “undue hardship” standard. It was appealed for a second time when the district court once again ruled that Brownsburg did not violate the law by denying Kluge’s unreasonable and harmful accommodation. FFRF filed an amicus brief on behalf of SSA during the initial appeal as well.
The brief argued that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Groff, the appeals court must analyze undue hardship by taking into consideration the unique aspects of the public school environment, including the school’s educational mission. The Supreme Court stated in Groff that “undue hardship’ is shown when a burden is substantial in the overall context of an employer’s business.” Title VII does not require that a public school substantially burden itself by providing a teacher with a religious accommodation that harms students. Additionally, the brief argued that teachers have a position of authority over students and cannot be allowed to abuse that authority.
This brief was drafted by Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence with Senior Counsel Sam Grover.
