Nashville Charter School Threatened To Fire First-Grade Teacher For Refusing To Read LGBTQ Book

A Nashville charter school threatened a first-grade teacher with termination after he refused to read an LGBTQ book about same-sex marriage to his class, according to a legal advocacy group.

KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary issued a “Final Warning” to Eric Rivera, a Christian first-grade teacher, after he declined to read a book featuring a same-sex married couple and child in the language arts curriculum, despite having no previous disciplinary history, according to First Liberty Institute.

Rivera requested a religious accommodation after discovering the LGBTQ book in the curriculum, according to a demand letter First Liberty sent to KIPP Nashville on behalf of Rivera.

“Mr. Rivera asked a colleague to read the book to his class of first-graders, while he remained in the classroom to observe — a substitution that Mr. Rivera believed would be workable and accepted,” the demand letter said.

School officials denied his request, summoned him to the principal’s office, and threatened his job, the demand letter claims.

The “Final Warning” letter accused Rivera of failing to meet the “expectation” of teaching the curriculum “with fidelity” and said that as a result of his conduct, students would “miss content aligned with the scope of the unit” — even though a substitute teacher was still teaching the curriculum to students.

“[T]he principal indicated that the belief in same-sex marriage is so fundamental to the language arts unit that Mr. Rivera could not possibly be permitted to teach any portion of the unit, and therefore had to be removed from the first grade classroom,” according to First Liberty’s letter.

The school’s letter concluded with a further threat of disciplinary action, including termination, and stated, “A copy of this unsatisfactory notice is being placed in your personnel file.”

“Requiring a teacher violate their religious beliefs in order to keep their job is blatant discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act,” said Cliff Martin, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “Our client cares deeply about his students and simply has a religious objection to teaching certain lessons and asked for a simple religious accommodation. The school has sent the message that anyone who has a traditional view of marriage is unfit to teach first grade.”

First Liberty accused the school of potentially violating Tennessee law by failing to disclose two books listed in the “LGBTQ+ Books” category on Amazon to parents.

“Both of the books to which Mr. Rivera objected require parental notification under Tennessee law, and to our knowledge, none was given. Accordingly, based on our understanding of KIPP’s practices, KIPP should review whether it is in compliance with its obligations to parents under Tennessee and federal law,” the letter said.

First Liberty’s letter to the school on behalf of Rivera demands that KIPP remove the “Final Warning” from Rivera’s personnel file, cease religious discrimination, and commit to accommodating religious employees who object to reading materials that conflict with their faith.