Kluge v. Brownsburg Cmty. Sch. Corp., 1:19-cv-2462-JMS-DLP

• Court: United States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court (Southern District of Indiana)
• Citation: 432 F.Supp.3d 823
• Docket Number: No. 1:19-cv-2462-JMS-DLP,1:19-cv-2462-JMS-DLP
• Parties: John M. KLUGE, Plaintiff, v. BROWNSBURG COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION, James Snapp, Phil Utterback, Jodi Gordon, and Bret Daghe, Defendants.
• Decision Date: 08 January 2020

432 F.Supp.3d 823

John M. KLUGE, Plaintiff,
v.
BROWNSBURG COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION, James Snapp, Phil Utterback, Jodi Gordon, and Bret Daghe, Defendants.

No. 1:19-cv-2462-JMS-DLP

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

Signed January 8, 2020

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Kevin Edward Green, Kevin Green Associates, Michael J. Cork, Michael J. Cork, Esq., Indianapolis, IN, Roscoe Stovall, Jr., Roscoe Stovall, Jr. & Associates, Mooresville, IN, for Plaintiff.

Alexander Phillip Pinegar, Church Church Hittle & Antrim, Noblesville, IN, Brent R. Borg, Church Church Hittle & Antrim, Fishers, IN, for Defendants.

ORDER

Hon. Jane Magnus-Stinson, Chief Judge

John M. Kluge, a former music and orchestra teacher at Brownsburg High School ("BHS"), filed this action against Brownsburg Community School Corporation ("BCSC") and several of its employees, alleging that he was discriminated against and ultimately forced to resign because his sincerely-held religious beliefs prevented him from following a school policy that required him to address transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns. [Filing No. 15.] Defendants have filed a Motion to Dismiss all of Mr. Kluge's claims. [Filing No. 44.] In addition, Indiana Youth Group, Inc. ("IYG"), an organization that supports LGBTQ youth in Indiana, has moved to intervene as a defendant in this action, [Filing No. 22], and has sought leave to file its own motion to dismiss, [Filing No. 55]. These motions are now ripe for the Court's decision.

I.

DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

A. Standard of Review

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require only a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Erickson v. Pardus , 551 U.S. 89, 93, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) ). To that end, the complaint need only provide the defendant with "fair notice of what the...claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Erickson , 551 U.S. at 93, 127 S.Ct. 2197 (quoting Bell Atlantic v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ) (internal quotation marks omitted). In order to survive a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the complaint must contain allegations that collectively "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Id. (internal quotations omitted) (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) ). "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing

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Twombly , 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ). "Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice." Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ).

In reviewing the sufficiency of a complaint, the Court must accept all well-pled facts as true and draw all permissible inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Alarm Detection Sys., Inc. v. Vill. of Schaumburg , 930 F.3d 812, 821 (7th Cir. 2019). This review is "a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense." Munson v. Gaetz , 673 F.3d 630, 633 (7th Cir. 2012).

B. Background

Consistent with the standard of review described above, the following allegations from Mr. Kluge's Amended Complaint are accepted as true for purposes of deciding Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. The allegations in this section are those common to all of Mr. Kluge's claims, and his additional, claim-specific allegations will be recounted as necessary in relation to each of his claims below.

Mr. Kluge became employed by BCSC as a music and orchestra teacher at BHS in August of 2014, and throughout his employment has received positive performance evaluations and met and exceeded BCSC's legitimate expectations. [Filing No. 15 at 5.] His students have received multiple awards for their musical performances. [Filing No. 15 at 6.]

Mr. Kluge "is a professing evangelical Christian who strives to live by his faith on a daily basis," and has practiced that faith since before he was employed by BCSC. [Filing No. 15 at 5-6.] His "faith governs the way he thinks about human nature, marriage, gender, sexuality, morality, politics, and social issues, and it causes him to hold sincerely-held religious beliefs in these areas" that are "drawn from the Bible." [Filing No. 15 at 6.] Specifically, "Mr. Kluge believes that God created mankind as either male or female, that this gender is fixed in each person from the moment of conception, and that it cannot be changed, regardless of an individual's feelings or desires." [Filing No. 15 at 6.] "Mr. Kluge also believes he cannot affirm as true ideas and concepts that he deems untrue and sinful, as this would violate Biblical injunctions against dishonesty, lying, and effeminacy." [Filing No. 15 at 7.]

During the summer of 2017, BCSC began to allow transgender students and students experiencing gender dysphoria¹ to use the restroom of their choice and to change their names and genders in the BCSC database known as PowerSchool. [Filing No. 15 at 7.] Name changes in the PowerSchool database required a letter from the student's parent(s) and a letter from a healthcare professional. [Filing No. 15-4.]² BCSC employees, including Mr. Kluge, were instructed to refer to students using the names and genders listed in the PowerSchool database, which Mr. Kluge believes constitute preferred names "based upon the students' gender dysphoria." [Filing No. 15 at 7; Filing No. 15-4 at 6.]

432 F.Supp.3d 834

In July 2017, Mr. Kluge informed BCSC Superintendent Dr. James Snapp that the requirement that he use the students' names as listed in PowerSchool ("the Policy") conflicted with his religious beliefs against affirming gender dysphoria, and Dr. Snapp responded that Mr. Kluge could either "use the transgender names, say he was forced to resign from BCSC, or be terminated without pay." [Filing No. 15 at 7-8.] Because Mr. Kluge refused to use the names listed in PowerSchool, Dr. Snapp initiated an administrative leave of absence for Mr. Kluge and Dr. Bret Daghe, the principal of BHS, "issued Mr. Kluge an ultimatum...mandating the use of transgender preferred names, and giving Mr. Kluge [three days] to decide if he would comply." [Filing No. 15 at 8.] Mr. Kluge then requested "an accommodation for his religious beliefs," and proposed the solution of "addressing all students by their last names only, similar to a sports coach." [Filing No. 15 at 8.] Dr. Snapp and Jodi Gordon, the BCSC Human Resources Director, agreed in writing to allow Mr. Kluge to address all students by their last names only ("the last-names-only arrangement") and assigned someone to distribute gender-specific uniforms to students so Mr. Kluge would not have to. [Filing No. 15 at 8; Filing No. 15-1.] Despite this agreement, the school board retroactively administered a two-day suspension in response to Dr. Snapp's previous action. [Filing No. 15 at 8.]

On December 13, 2017, Mr. Kluge met with Dr. Daghe, at which time Dr. Daghe informed Mr. Kluge that the last-names-only arrangement had created "tension" and that Mr. Kluge should resign by the end of the school year. [Filing No. 15 at 9.] However, Mr. Kluge alleges that the last-names-only arrangement created no undue hardship for Defendants, and no Defendant identified in writing any undue hardship that was purportedly caused. [Filing No. 15 at 9.] Instead, he asserts, "nothing dramatic occurred" between July and December 2017, and there were no student protests, written complaints, classroom disturbances, or cancelled classes. [Filing No. 15 at 9.] Instead, that last-names-only arrangement "worked as intended and Mr. Kluge's students excelled," with his extra-curricular program experiencing "record numbers of participation" and his students winning awards and gold ratings. [Filing No. 15 at 9.]

According to Mr. Kluge, "Defendants simply decided not to accommodate or tolerate [his] sincerely-held religious beliefs any longer," and Ms. Gordon informed him that the last-names-only arrangement was being withdrawn because "students were offended at the use of last names." [Filing No. 15 at 9-10.] Mr. Kluge asserts that Ms. Gordon provided no evidence that students were offended and maintains that he "never told his students why he was referring to them by their last names." [Filing No. 15 at 10.] Mr. Kluge again attempted to explain "that he believes encouraging students to present themselves as the opposite sex by calling them an opposite-sex first name is sinful and potentially harmful to the students," but Ms. Gordon advised him that he could either resign by May 1, 2018 and be paid over the summer or be fired without pay. [Filing No. 15 at 10.] He states that Defendants' contentions that the last-names-only arrangement created tension or offended students were not based in fact but were simply pretexts for religious...