Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation

Lambda Legal filed legal papers on behalf of Indiana Youth Group (IYG) to join a lawsuit in a case before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to protect the interests of transgender students from attack by a teacher who sued the Brownsburg Community School Corporation after officials asked him to refer to transgender students in his classroom accurately by their full names, as requested by their parents and recorded in the school’s database.

Prior to the start of class in 2017, the Brownsburg school district formulated a policy instructing teachers to refer to students using the names recorded in the school’s “Power School” database, which allows parents of transgender students, with the approval of a health care professional, to enter a name for their child that is consistent with their gender identity.

Claiming a religious objection, teacher John Kluge refused to refer to several transgender students in his class by their names because he believed the names did not match their birth-assigned sex. After complaints from students about Kluge referring to students exclusively by last names in order to bypass the requirements, Kluge resigned as he was unwilling to follow school policy.

Kluge sued the school district and is seeking reinstatement and an injunction prohibiting the district from enforcing the policy in question, among other things.