Appeals Court rules professor cannot be forced to use someone's preferred pronouns

 PJ Media:

An Ohio university may have violated the free speech and religious freedom rights of a Christian philosophy professor by requiring him to refer to a biological male student with feminine pronouns and a feminine title, a court ruled Friday.

A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Shawnee State University professor Nicholas Meriwether, Ph.D. Meriwether sued the university for violating his free speech and religious freedom rights by requiring him to refer to a biologically male student with feminine pronouns. A district court dismissed Meriwether’s lawsuit, but the Sixth Circuit reversed that ruling, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

“Since Meriwether has plausibly alleged that Shawnee State violated his First Amendment rights by compelling his speech or silence and casting a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom, his free-speech claim may proceed,” Judge Amul Thapar, a Trump appointee, wrote in his opinion. Thapar also argued that the university likely violated Meriwether’s religious freedom by dismissing his religious arguments with hostility.

“This case forced us to defend what used to be a common belief—that nobody should be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep their job,” John Bursch, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and one of Meriwether’s lawyers, said in a statement on Friday.

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Life may not be easy for people who try to force others to agree with them.  It will not be easy for those who insult the intelligence of others because they feel insulted. 

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