Tennessee teacher removed after requesting religious exemption to avoid reading LGBT book to first graders

A Tennessee public-school teacher is facing disciplinary action and a possible termination after declining to read an LGBTQ book to his first-grade students, citing his religious convictions.

First Liberty Institute is representing Eric Rivera, a teacher at KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School in Nashville. The legal firm sent a letter to the school Feb. 17, alleging the school violated the teacher’s religious freedom protections under both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the First Amendment of the Constitution.

“Requiring a teacher violate their religious beliefs in order to keep their job is blatant discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act,” Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute Cliff Martin said in a press release. “Our client cares deeply about his students and simply has a religious objection to teaching certain lessons and asked for a simple religious accommodation.”

In early January, Rivera discovered the first-grade curriculum included the book Stella Brings the Family – a children’s book about a young daughter raised in a home with two men as her “dads,” Martin told The Lion in an interview. The book’s content conflicts with Rivera’s Christian faith that defends traditional marriage between one man and one woman, Martin said.

Rivera asked his co-teacher to read the book in his stead, and the school’s assistant principal approved this proposed solution. Rivera asked for additional approval to be transparent with the school’s administration and stayed in the classroom while his co-teacher read the book to students, Martin said.

The next day, Jan. 7, Principal Brittnee Kennedy called Rivera into her office and presented him with a “final warning,” despite no previous warnings or disciplinary action. The warning threatened Rivera with termination if he did not comply with teaching the school’s curriculum, according to First Liberty’s press release.

The warning, included in First Liberty’s letter, claimed Rivera’s actions may have caused students to “miss content aligned with the scope of this unit.” Furthermore, the warning required Rivera to “maintain fidelity to the curriculum” and “use the materials, books, and resources provided by the curriculum.”

“Mr. Rivera did not abandon his class such that they received no instruction; he arranged for a colleague to step in, allowing the curriculum to be taught on schedule and in a way that did not violate Mr. Rivera’s conscience,” First Liberty writes. “KIPP’s assertion that Mr. Rivera’s conduct created ‘curriculum gaps” is completely false.’”

Instead of signing the written warning, Rivera requested a religious accommodation to avoid reading the only two books in the curriculum he found to oppose his religious beliefs, Martin explained.

Instead of a religious accommodation, Rivera was immediately removed from his first-grade classroom and placed in a lab or tech position and then in kindergarten, according to the press release.

“In so doing, KIPP tacitly conceded that it will never permit someone with traditional marriage views to teach first grade,” the letter states. “By this anti-religious personnel practice, KIPP has violated Mr. Rivera’s right to honor his own conscience and live according to his legally protected religious beliefs.”

KIPP’s action is clear religious discrimination that not only violates the Civil Rights Act and the First Amendment’s free exercise clause, but Tennessee state law as well, Martin said.

State law requires schools to notify parents of LGBTQ content, allowing parents to remove their children from these sessions.

However, parents must take numerous steps to remove their child from the objectionable content, according to First Liberty’s review of the school handbook, including talking with both the teacher and principal and then submitting a formal complaint.

“It was a bureaucratic process, rather than a simple opt-out form,” Martin said. “‘Sign here and we’ll make sure we don’t expose your child to LGBTQ material.’ That’s what it should be. Parents have a constitutional right to shield their children from this material, especially first graders. And the school does not seem to be doing anything to facilitate that happening that we can tell.”

Martin said KIPP has not yet responded to First Liberty’s letter, which has a deadline of this Friday, Feb. 27. The school, however, has canceled both the upcoming parent meeting and book fair, Martin said, noting the correlation does not prove direct relation.

KIPP did not respond to The Lion’s request for comment. Martin said First Liberty will evaluate any response and proceed to protect Rivera.

“We’ll pursue all angles,” he said.