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CV NEWS FEED // An Ohio teacher who was forced to resign from her job over her refusal to call two students by their preferred names and pronouns recently reached a $450,000 settlement paid by the school district.
WCMH, a Columbus-based NBC affiliate, reported that two trans-identifying students asked Vivian Geraghty at the start of the 2022-2023 school year to use their preferred names and pronouns as part of a “social transition.” She did not comply based on her Christian beliefs, despite pushback from the students.
She later met with Kacy Carter, the school’s principal, “to seek an accommodation so that students would not continue to feel uncomfortable,” the filing reportedly states.
In a second meeting with Carter and a school district employee, Geraghty was told that “it was going to be a problem” if she failed to use the students’ preferred names, according to the filing.
In a third meeting, Carter reportedly told Geraghty she would need to resign, refusing to honor her religious beliefs. Geraghty sued the school district in 2022, represented by legal non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
According to WCMH, the school district reportedly said that it did not have a policy that required teachers to use students’ preferred names or pronouns but instead adhered to the Title IX ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The outlet also reported that ADF argued the school did not work with Geraghty to come to a solution, “like moving the teacher to another classroom or having her address students by their last names.”
“The suit also claimed the district implemented a pronoun policy that is not fairly enforced,” WCMH reported.
A district court found in August 2024 that requiring Geraghty to use the students’ preferred names and pronouns was compelled speech. The two parties then reached a settlement Dec. 18, with the school district agreeing to pay $450,000 to Geraghty.
“The school tried to force Vivian to accept and repeat the school’s viewpoint on issues that go to the foundation of morality and human identity, like what makes us male or female, by ordering her to personally participate in the social transition of her students,” said Logan Spena, legal counsel for ADF. “The First Amendment prohibits that abuse of power, and Jackson Local School District officials have learned that comes at a steep cost.”
