Kansas teacher sues school for 'forcing' her to use students' preferred pronouns
Pamela Ricard, a public school teacher in Kansas is suing the principal, the district's superintendent and members of the school board at Fort Riley Middle School after being suspended for misgendering a trans student. Ricard worked at Fort Riley Middle School as a math teacher.
According to CNN, she claims that using the preferred names and pronouns of transgender and nonbinary kids contradicts her religious beliefs. Ricard filed a complaint against the Geary County Schools Unified School District after being penalized many times for refusing to address students by their preferred pronouns or names.
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Ricard claims that school administrators' refusal to allow her to ignore students' preferred names and pronouns "deprived her of due process and equal treatment of the law" and infringed on her First Amendment rights to free speech and religion. Her complaint claims that ignoring students' preferred names and pronouns has no negative impact on them, but several LGBTQ-friendly organizations across the country disagree. The transphobic teacher is of the belief that respecting her students’ gender identities is against her religion.
Misgendering a child can have a major impact on his or her confidence and mental health, according to Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, executive director of GLSEN, a national organization that promotes the LGBTQ+ agenda in K-12 schools across the country.
In April 2021, Ricard was suspended for three days after she refused to address a student by his pronouns and instead referred to him as, “Miss". Ricard got multiple reminders to use the student's preferred name and pronouns. According to Ricard's lawsuit, after she ignored a student's preferred name for the first time, the administrator wrote an email to all of the school's instructors saying, "When we have a student that requests to go by a preferred name that is different than their given name, our district honors the request. Once you are aware of a preferred name, use that name for the student."
Ricard's suspension was based on allegations that she broke 11 district policies, including bullying and diversity and inclusion policies. She attempted multiple times to have the suspension lifted, but it was of no benefit.
According to Ricard's lawsuit, "Ms. Ricard's faith teaches her that God immutable creates each person as male or female. Any policy that requires Ms. Ricard to refer to a student by a gendered, non-binary, or plural pronoun (e.g., he/him, she/her, they/them, zhe/zher, etc.) or salutation (Mr., Miss, Ms.) or other gendered language that is different from the student's biological sex actively violates Ms. Ricard's religious beliefs."
Ricard said she appreciates her job despite the ongoing litigation. "I continue to enjoy teaching my students day in and day out," Ricard added, "but the stigma of being officially labeled a 'bully' for simply using a student’s enrolled last name has been disheartening. I love all of my students, but I shouldn’t be forced to contradict my core beliefs in order to teach math in a public school."
Her lawsuit filing states that the school district is threatening to discipline her if she refuses to comply with the district’s pronoun policy. “Our suit contends that schools cannot force teachers to promote novel views about gender fluidity and ever-expanding pronoun categories without regard to the First Amendment or due process,” Josh Ney, one of Ricard’s lawyers, told AP News.
