Kindergarten Teacher Files Federal Lawsuit Against Oakland, CA Public Schools After Firing for Refusal to use "Preferred Pronouns”

A California kindergarten teacher has filed a federal lawsuit against the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights related to the gender transition of her five year-old student. Mirella Ramirez alleges that she was fired from her job as a kindergarten teacher after the OUSD forced her to refer to her five year-old female student as a male, and refused to honor her request for a religious accommodation. Ramirez informed the district that as a devout Catholic, she does not believe in gender transition, and would not be using male pronouns when addressing the girl. The 30-page complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the school violated Ramirez's First Amendment right to free speech by compelling her to engage in speech that violated her sincerely-held religious beliefs, conditioning any accommodation on her promise to violate her religious beliefs, and then firing her when she didn't comply. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages including back pay, front pay, punitive damages, and compensatory damages. Ramirez has also filed a complaint of religious discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.