US school settles religious liberty lawsuit over ‘preferred pronouns’ diktat

A Christian counsellor has been awarded $195,000, after she was sacked for speaking about her school’s transgender policy.

Kathy McCord objected to a new directive requiring teachers and staff to use a child’s transgender name and pronouns without first consulting parents. When the counsellor confirmed details of the policy to a local journalist, she was dismissed.

But last week, South Madison Community School Corporation in the US state of Indiana reached a pre-hearing settlement with McCord for damages, legal fees and costs.

God-given responsibilities

McCord — supported by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — launched legal action against her former employer in 2023, arguing that its transgender policy violated her “sincerely held religious beliefs and her understanding of how best to care for students”.

The lawsuit stated: “Mrs McCord is a practicing Christian and an active member of a local church, who bases her beliefs on the Bible and strives to live out her Christian faith, whether at work, out in the community, or in her home with her family.”

It explained that she believes “each person’s sex is fixed by biology from birth, rather than assigned by another person; that this sex is an immutable gift from God; and that it is not possible to change a person’s sex”.

Due to her belief that parents have “God-given responsibilities for their children”, the document noted, she considers it “generally harmful to make decisions about children’s health without involving their parents”.

Religious liberty

Welcoming the settlement, ADF Senior Counsel Vincent Wagner said: “No American should be fired for expressing her beliefs”.

“Kathy knows that kids do best when schools and parents work together. But South Madison left parents in the dark. It’s regrettable that South Madison made Kathy endure three years of litigation to get to this point, but we are pleased with this result for Kathy.”

Earlier this year, Christian teacher John Kluge was awarded $650,000 after he was forced to resign from Brownsburg High School, Indiana, for refusing to use the ‘preferred names and pronouns’ of gender-confused pupils.