A former Ohio school teacher has filed a lawsuit over the circumstances of her resignation.
According to media reports, Vivian Geraghty (24) is suing the school she used to work at, the Jackson Memorial Middle School in Massillon, as well as the Board of Education and two school district employees.
Geraghty, who resigned in August, claims that she quit her job after two students asked her to use names aligned “with their new gender identities rather than their legal names.”
As the students’ request was apparently in line with the school’s policy that stipulates teachers use students’ preferred pronouns, Geraghty, who describes herself as Christian, reached out to the principal in a bid to reach “a solution that would allow her to continue teaching without violating her religious beliefs and constitutional rights.”
However, as she insisted that she would not use the students’ preferred pronouns, Geraghty later had another meeting with the principal and another school district employee, and was told that “she would be required to put her beliefs aside as a public servant,” the lawsuit alleges.
The district employee then reportedly told Geraghty that, if she did not participate in the students’ “social transition”, she would have to quit, and the latter ended up resigning over what she described as “irreconcilable” differences between herself and the school district.
“While some may say this is forcing my beliefs on others, I say this is standing up for the mission that every teacher should fight for,” Geraghty reportedly stated.