Ex-teacher sues Oakland Unified School District following student pronoun dispute

OAKLAND, Calif. - A former Melrose Leadership Academy teacher is suing the Oakland Unified School District for allegedly violating her rights when the district fired her for reportedly refusing to use a student's preferred pronouns.

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported Tuesday that Mirella Ramirez filed a lawsuit against OUSD in December alleging the district violated her First Amendment rights and religious freedom.

The backstory:

According to the lawsuit, Ramirez was ordered by the school district in September and October 2022 to refer to one of her kindergarten students using male pronouns "at the insistence of the girl’s parents."

The lawsuit detailed that Ramirez "is a devout Catholic who believes, as a matter of faith, that a person is born to their divinely-intended gender, that God reveals a person’s gender through their physical body, and that it is immoral to rebel against God’s intent by artificially transitioning genders."

The suit further states that Ramirez's faith "prohibits her from affirming, or supporting in any way, someone else’s rebellion against God’s design."

Ramirez requested a religious accommodation from OSUD "that would balance her student’s parents’ desires, the district’s policy, and her faith."

But the suit claims that the district instead removed the student from her class, refused to provide Ramirez training on how to form gender-neutral sentences in Spanish, suspended her with pay for more than a year as officials investigated her conduct and eventually fired her.

What's next:

The suit demands a trial by jury for Ramirez's case, and seeks back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney's fees and "any other equitable relief that the court finds just."

A court date has not been announced.