It’s another huge win for core values and a devastating loss for liberals. A Shawnee State University professor who refused to use the preferred pronouns of a male student who identifies as female has settled with his employer for $400,000 and an agreement that he will never be forced to use pronouns.
Shawnee philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether refused to address a male student who identifies as female by the student’s preferred pronouns, instead referring to the student as “sir,” saying that his evangelical Christian beliefs were behind his actions.
Cincinnati.com reported that when they met after class, Meriwether said the student circled Meriwether threateningly and compared the professor’s refusal to use the student’s preferred pronouns to someone calling him a “c***.”
According to reports the student complained twice to the university, prompting a Title IX investigation. Heavy.com also noted that Meriwether said he would address the student using the student’s last name.
Shawnee State University started a Title IX investigation, deciding Meriwether had violated the school anti-discrimination policy when he refused to call the student by the student’s preferred pronouns. The university issued a written rebuke.
The school lost the case, and withdrew its letter but sustain that the professor’s rights were not violated. That’s not how the 6th circuit supreme courts saw it, so their ‘point of view’ is invalid.
In the case, Meriwether argued he was standing by his Christian beliefs in refusing to use the preferred pronouns of the student and that he instead offered to call his students by either “Mr.” or “Ms.” and their last name, or simply by their last name.
“Dr. Meriwether went out of his way to accommodate his students and treat them all with dignity and respect, yet his university punished him because he wouldn’t endorse an ideology that he believes is false,” ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham said. “We’re pleased to see the university recognize that the First Amendment guarantees Dr. Meriwether — and every other American — the right to speak and act in a manner consistent with one’s faith and convictions.”
As all supreme court cases do, this victory will have a lasting effect on similar cases in the future. As well as cases currently underway. So expect to see more wrongs being righted, soon.
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