Normally, I find stories about Christians being persecuted in European countries, or Canada. But when I did a search for stories about Christians being persecuted for declining to participate in LGBT in America, I was able to find quite a few cases. I’ve previously covered all the Christian businesses who got sued for refusing to celebrate same-sex marriages. But there’s more!

Consider the case of Peter Vlaming, who was fired for declining to use transgender pronouns.

The Washington Stand reports:

The saga began in 2018, when a female student in Vlaming’s class who identified as transgender demanded to be called by a male name and pronouns. Vlaming, who had taught in the district for almost seven years and was popular with students, agreed to call the student by her chosen name but declined to refer to her with male pronouns. In an attempt at compromise, he invited the whole class to use new names for French class and also avoided using any pronouns in class.

But Vlaming’s attempts to accommodate the student were not enough for West Point High School officials. They ordered him to start using the trans-identifying student’s preferred pronouns or risk losing his job. After Vlaming declined to use male pronouns and attempted to explain his efforts to compromise, he was informed that he was being fired for “discrimination” on the basis of gender identity.

Now, you might be tempted to say “well, West Point is in New York state, so of course blue states are going to abuse the human rights of Christians”. But here’s a case from Kansas, which is a purple state.

Daily Signal reports:

Fort Riley, Kansas, middle school math teacher Pamela Ricard wasn’t looking to pick a fight. But when the Geary County School District suspended and disciplined the teacher with a 17-year history of teaching at the school, she sued.

Her offense? She addressed two students who considered themselves transgender by their legal names rather than their preferred names and pronouns, and she refused to hide their social transition from the students’ parents. Both actions were in contravention of the school district’s new communications policy.

It’s important to note that in both of these cases, the people who were punished argued that they had a right to do what they were doing, because of the Bible’s teaching about male and female sexes. But that didn’t save them, because people don’t care about religious liberty as a defense to “making someone feel bad”.

Here’s another case, this time from California, where a gym teacher was fired for the crime of refusing to use a student’s preferred pronouns.

The Washington Stand reports:

The Jurupa school district fired Tapia in January 2023 after she said her religious beliefs made her “unable to comply” with the district’s directives “to refrain from disclosing the gender identity of a student who is transgender to a parent who does not know the student’s gender identity” and “to address students by their preferred name and preferred gender pronouns.”

“It was crazy to be in the position where I realized that I couldn’t be a Christian and a teacher,” said Tapia, a mother of three children herself. “I made sure to clarify, too, with [the] district personnel that were sitting across from me. I looked them in the eye, and I said, ‘Are you asking me to lie to parents?’ and they said, ‘Yes. It’s the law.’”

Now, to be honest, I think you’d have to be really naive to want to try to live an authentic Christian life in CALIFORNIA. I think you would have to tone down your advocacy for Biblical positions, in order to live there. But, some people like the weather, or something. Me, I’d rather live in a red state like Tennessee or Oklahoma, where I can say what I want and not care what people think.

Here’s another case from a blue state, Virginia. In this case, a physical education teacher was suspended for opposing a preferred pronoun policy at a school board meeting.

Daily Signal reports:

A prominent religious liberty organization is asking a Virginia school district to reverse a decision to suspend a gym teacher for not complying with pronoun rules for transgender students in his elementary school.

The Loudoun County school district suspended Byron “Tanner” Cross, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School, after he said during a May 25 school board meeting that he would not abide by a proposed rule requiring teachers to call students who say they are transgender by their preferred personal pronouns.

You might remember the Loudoun county school district. This is the school district that allowed a male student to sexually assault a female student, and then when it was discovered, they tried to label the concerned parents “domestic terrorists”. This is why the question “where will our children go to school?” ought to be a topic for Christians who are considering marriage. It’s very important that Christian kids not go to government schools.

Here’s a final story out of Indiana, a red state. This time, a music teacher was forced to resign for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a student.

The Indy Star explains:

A Brownsburg teacher is fighting for his job after he says the district forced him to resign over its transgender student policy.

John Kluge, the former orchestra teacher at Brownsburg High School, said the school district’s requirement that teachers call transgender students by their preferred names, rather than those given at birth, goes against his religious beliefs. The requirement, Kluge said, violates his First Amendment rights.

In every case, these were Christian people who refused to participate in LGBT indoctrination, because they believed in the Bible, not in the morality of the secular left. But it didn’t save them from being persecuted. It’s so strange to me to see so many Christian pastors and leaders ignoring the violation of the religious liberty of Bible-believing Christians. Make sure that you think about that when you go to the ballot box to vote.