A Christian teacher in Nashville is being threatened with losing his job for adhering to a biblical position on sex and marriage. Eric Rivera, a first-grade teacher at KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School, was instructed to read to children in his class two books promoting same-sex marriage, but switched periods with another teacher, as his sincerely-held religious beliefs would not permit him to promote same-sex marriage to children. He requested a religious accommodation, which was initially granted by an assistant principal. However, the school principal later threatened Rivera, ordering him to “maintain fidelity” with the school’s worldview and read the books or face termination.

“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 established that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any individual with respect to religion and also requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would impose an ‘undue hardship’ on the conduct of the employer’s business,” attorneys with First Liberty Institute wrote in a letter on Rivera’s behalf to the school’s leadership. “KIPP cannot demonstrate any undue hardship here. Therefore, KIPP failed to reasonably accommodate Mr. Rivera in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”

Cliff Martin, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, appeared on “Washington Watch” Monday night to discuss the case. “The message is clear that one cannot teach the first-grade curriculum that they have and still hold the sincere position that marriage is between a man and a woman. They essentially communicated to him that you cannot hold those beliefs and be faithful to them and also teach first grade,” Martin observed.

Since requesting a religious accommodation, Rivera has been reassigned to a different position. The attorney noted that the school initially demonstrated that “an accommodation is possible” by allowing another teacher to read the books instead of Rivera but then “reversed course” and likely violated Rivera’s rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the First Amendment. Martin pointed out, “The school is a public charter school, so we believe they also violated the First Amendment.”

The school also allegedly did not inform parents that children were being taught pro-LGBT material, which Martin noted is required under both federal and Tennessee law. “The school should have simply accommodated him and arranged for someone else to teach the material, and allowed Mr. Rivera to continue teaching first grade, just other than the two days where the material was implicated,” the attorney suggested. “Instead, they told him that he was not fit to teach first grade at all because the English language curriculum … was so permeated with the idea that ‘love makes a family,’ as they say, that he could not teach the entire unit holding the beliefs that he held.”

First Liberty Institute demanded a response from the school by the end of Friday, February 27. Martin, however, shared that the school has “not shown any indication so far that they will respond, but I hope they do. I hope they respond with a commitment to doing the right thing, a commitment to accommodate all religious employees and also to [inform] parents as they’re required to do under federal and Tennessee law.” If the school does not comply, he said, First Liberty Institute will likely take legal action, either litigation or “political investigation.”

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling permitting parents to opt their children out of LGBT instruction in the classroom if such instruction “burdens” their First Amendment rights to raise their children in accord with their sincerely-held religious beliefs — establishing strong, targeted protections for parents and educators dealing with LGBT content in school curricula. Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland had reversed a policy that had allowed parents to opt their children out of LGBT instruction in the classroom, which included books on transgenderism and same-sex marriage, prompting a coalition of parents from varying religious backgrounds to file a lawsuit.

In his opinion for the Supreme Court’s majority, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the LGBT-themed “storybooks unmistakably convey a particular viewpoint about same-sex marriage and gender,” which he said “goes far beyond mere ‘exposure’” to LGBT viewpoints or opinions. According to education law firm Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, the Supreme Court’s “potentially far reaching” ruling could have ripple effects and may even be cited in protecting the First Amendment rights of teachers like Rivera.