A bi-vocational pastor who was fired from his position at a public library for refusing to use a co-worker’s preferred pronouns is demanding to be reinstated with backpay. Luke Ash, pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was dismissed from East Baton Rouge Parish Library (EBRPL) in July.
Ash’s church is a member of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
In a conversation with Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, Ash said that he had been working at the library as an interdepartmental loan technician for four months when he was reprimanded for using female pronouns to refer to a coworker who identified as a trans man.
RELATED: Wheaton College Restricts Employees’ Ability To State Preferred Pronouns
Ash said that he was fired the next day after he refused to “get on board” with the library’s inclusivity policies.
“I said, ‘I’m not going to lie,’” Ash told Perkins. “I cannot do it.”
Now, Ash is demanding that the library reinstate him with backpay. Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit organization that litigates on behalf of evangelical Christians, sent the demand letter on Ash’s behalf.
Liberty Counsel is also asking that EBRPL revise its pronoun policy.
Liberty Counsel wrote:
The bottom line is this: there is no compelling government interest in requiring Mr. Ash (or other employees) to lie; or to affirmatively use false pronouns that do not accurately reflect biological sex, particularly outside the hearing of the person who dislikes accurate, sex-based pronouns. The library has acted unlawfully in firing Mr. Ash.
The letter argued that Ash’s interaction with the employee who identified as a trans man “were limited but generally cordial, as [Ash] had only worked with her for three days,” and alleged that no “attempt at accommodation of Mr. Ash’s religious beliefs was attempted by the Library.”
 in July. ){kind=link}