Judge Rules Against College Professor Who Refused to Play Transgender Pronoun Game

Sadly, a court has ruled against an Ohio college professor who was being compelled to use a transgender student’s preferred gender pronouns.

According to The Blaze, Professor Nicholas Meriwether has taught at Shawnee State University in Ohio as a religion and philosophy professor since 1996.  He sued the university after they “rebuked” him for refusing to call a transgender student by his preferred pronoun of she/her.  Meriwether alleges that this requirement violated his First Amendment right to freedom of religious expression.

Meriwether’s attorney, Travis Barham of the Alliance Defending Freedom, said they are considering an appeal.  Barham said, “This is wrong.  Public universities have no business compelling people to express ideological beliefs that they don’t hold.”

It was not been reported what the “rebuke” of Meriwether entailed, but he is still a professor at the university according to the faculty list on their website.

It is disturbing that we have reached the point in society where you can risk your livelihood if you do not LIE and give in to another person’s DELUSION.  There is no indication of any allegation that the professor treated the trans student unfairly academically or in any other way.  He simply refused to refer to a man as she/her.

According to an interview given by Meriwether and his attorney to Fox News in September of 2019, he attempted to reach a compromise with the school.  He was agreeable to referring to the student only by his first name or last name.  However, the school balked at that suggestion.  They said that if he did that, he would have to call all students by their first or last name and would not be allowed to use pronouns for ANY STUDENT in his class.

On what basis do people contend that they have a “right” to be called by a certain gender pronoun?  It is sad that this student apparently suffers from gender dysphoria.  However, his confusion should not compel other people to act confused.   Nor should it be the basis on which to compel others to speak falsely.

What do you think about this case?