An Ohio professor reportedly settled for $400,000 after filing a federal lawsuit arguing that being forced to call students by their preferred pronouns violated his beliefs as a devout Christian.
Shawnee State University philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether was warned in 2018 to recognize students by the pronouns of their choosing, NBC News reports.
His lawsuit, filed that year, argued that being forced to speak in a way that violates his religious freedoms constitutes a violation of his constitutional rights. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed following a three-year legal battle that ended in 2021. The Portsmouth, Ohio, university reportedly agreed to the six-figure payout last week.
According to Meriwether’s lawsuit, “a male student demanded that Dr. Meriwether address him as a woman” and threatened have him fired if he didn’t comply.
NBC News reports that the professor was rebuked by his employer for referring to a female transgender student as “sir.”
