In a victory for free speech and religious liberty, an Ohio teacher who was forced to resign after refusing to use students’ preferred pronouns has secured a $450,000 settlement from her former school district. Vivian Geraghty, a middle school language arts teacher at Jackson Local School District, sued the district in 2022, claiming her First Amendment rights were violated when she was pressured to go against her deeply held Christian beliefs.
Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal group dedicated to defending religious freedoms, Geraghty’s case centered on the district’s demand that she use alternative pronouns for students, a move she argued violated her faith and understanding of biological reality. The district’s actions came after two students requested that she refer to them by names inconsistent with their biological sex. When Geraghty raised concerns, she was informed that her only option was to resign if she refused to comply.
Logan Spena, legal counsel for ADF, condemned the school district’s actions as an overreach that violated Geraghty’s constitutional rights. “The school tried to force Vivian to accept and repeat the school’s viewpoint on issues that go to the foundation of morality and human identity,” Spena said. “The First Amendment prohibits that abuse of power, and Jackson Local School District officials have learned that comes at a steep cost.”
Geraghty’s stance was rooted in her Christian faith, which teaches that gender is determined by biological sex, not personal identity. When the district demanded she participate in the “social transition” of her students, Geraghty explained that doing so would contradict her religious convictions. Rather than working with her, the school district gave her an ultimatum: resign or comply. Within two hours of her expressing concerns, she was handed a laptop and escorted out of the building.
ADF highlighted the broader implications of the case, emphasizing how the school district’s actions went beyond a simple disagreement over policy and infringed on Geraghty’s rights to free speech and religious freedom. In a press release, ADF detailed how Geraghty’s attempt to address the issue with her principal was met with resistance, and her concerns were ignored. “After a school official instructed Vivian to participate in the social transitions of her students, she went to the principal to voice her concerns, hoping for a collaborative discussion. Instead, she experienced a blatant violation of her First Amendment rights,” the statement read.
The settlement, reached on December 18, 2024, marks a major win for defenders of religious liberty. The Jackson Local School District has agreed to pay Geraghty $450,000 in damages and attorney fees for its unconstitutional actions. ADF celebrated the outcome as a critical affirmation of the right of teachers to uphold their beliefs without fear of retribution from their employers.
“This is a victory for free speech and the religious rights of educators across the country,” said ADF senior counsel, Jeremy Tedesco. “No teacher should be forced to choose between their job and their faith. Schools can’t demand teachers set aside their beliefs to comply with an ideology that contradicts their deeply held convictions.”
For Geraghty, the settlement represents not just financial compensation, but a firm stand for the principles that have guided her throughout her life. “Teachers should be able to live and work freely without being forced to speak in ways that violate their beliefs,” said ADF, underscoring the broader significance of this case for educators nationwide.
This case serves as a stark reminder that when schools overstep their bounds, they risk infringing on constitutional freedoms—and taxpayers will ultimately bear the cost. The settlement sets a precedent that may reverberate across the nation, showing that the First Amendment is still a powerful force in defending personal beliefs against governmental overreach.
