A Pennsylvania teacher was reinstated following backlash from the community after he was suspended for refusing to follow the district’s preferred pronouns policy.
Daren Cusato of the South Side Area School District near Pittsburgh was suspended last week after he told school officials that he would not follow guidelines requiring staff to address students by preferred pronouns because it violated his religious beliefs and his background in biology, according to Fox News. Cusato worked as a biology and anatomy teacher in the school district.
At a school board meeting shortly after, more than 400 people gathered to show support for Cusato. More than 40 people spoke at the meeting in support of Cusato’s reinstatement, WPXI noted. Some of his students led protests outside the school over his suspension.
“My uncle Daren is standing up for what is right, even though he is standing by himself. I am thoroughly embarrassed that the South Side School District has taken this arbitrary stance in choosing to align with the one percent,” Cusato’s niece, whose name was not published, said.
Another woman reportedly said that the school district suspended Cusato out of fear of getting sued.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of being sued. Fine. If you want to sue us, sue us. Let’s take it to the Supreme Court. Let’s take it all the way,” she said.
At the school board meeting, the board reinstated Cusato and ended the pronoun policy. The school superintendent plans to draft a new policy, CBS News reported.
In August, the Pennsylvania Department of Education unveiled guidance promoting “gender neutral” pronouns for students. Some of these included “ne, ve, ze/zie and xe.”
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