INDIANAPOLIS – A Brownsburg High School teacher who lost his job over the school district’s transgender policy is suing.

John Kluge resigned over Brownsburg’s directive to address transgender students by their preferred name — he tried to withdraw the resignation but the school board ignored the request. Kluge says he was told to resign or be fired — his attorneys describe his resignation as coerced.

Kluge’s lawsuit contends calling students born boys by adopted girls’ names or vice versa represents an endorsement of sinful behavior, and argues the school policy violates his freedom of speech and religion. And he argues the policy is too vague about defining gender identity to allow for due process.

Kluge had been Brownsburg’s orchestra teacher for three years when the policy was instituted in 2017. He says he reached a written agreement with Superintendent James Snapp to sidestep the issue by calling students by their last names. After one semester, he charges, Brownsburg’s principal told him that approach was causing “tension” with students and suggested he resign at the end of the school year.

Kluge maintains he saw no evidence of tension. He says the orchestra won medals at state music contests, and says he believes he had good relationships with his students, and reached out to those who weren’t forming friendships with classmates, including transgender students.

Kluge submitted what he says was a conditional resignation letter last April before deciding to fight it out.

The lawsuit demands back pay and damages.