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It’s a small but significant step forward in fighting the woke tyranny that has taken over so many campuses. A professor who stood up to a transgender bully was punished by his public university, Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, sued, with support from the great organization Alliance Defending Freedom. After his suit was dismissed over “lack of standing,”  he appealed, won the right to a trial, and then settled with the university for a sum sizable enough to change policy and warn other schools not to join the bullies.

Ashe Schow has the story in the Daily Wire:

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.

“To accede to these demands would have required Dr. Meriwether to communicate views regarding gender identity that he does not hold, that he does not wish to communicate, and that would contradict (and force him to violate) his sincerely held Christian beliefs,” Meriwether wrote in his lawsuit against the school after he was disciplined over the incident. The lawsuit also notes that Meriwether addresses students as “sir” or “Miss” to show respect,”

If at first you don’t succeed…

In February 2020, a lower court dismissed Meriwether’s lawsuit, writing “Plaintiff’s refusal to address a student in class in accordance with the student’s gender identity does not implicate broader societal concerns and the free speech clause of the First Amendment under the circumstances of this case.”

Try, try again (at the appellate level).

read more:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/prof_who_was_disciplined_for_not_using_preferred_pronouns_sues_and_wins_400k_settlement_from_state_university.html