Louisiana pastor says he was fired from library job for objecting to trans pronoun use

A Louisiana pastor claimed he was fired from his second job at a local library this month for refusing to use a transgender employee’s preferred pronouns.

Luke Ash, lead pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, was a library technician at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library until he was fired on July 10, he recently told Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, on his show "Washington Watch."

According to Ash, he was in conversation with a co-worker on July 7 about a new staffer that she was training. The new staff member, Ash says, was a biological female who preferred to be called by male pronouns.

"I refused to use those preferred pronouns. The next day I was reprimanded by my supervisor and the head of reference, and Thursday morning I was fired," he told Perkins.

Louisiana pastor Luke Ash said he lost his second job at the library after refusing to comply with the library's inclusivity policy regarding pronoun use. ((Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images))

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According to WBRZ, Ash was handed a copy of the library's inclusivity policy, which says it fosters an environment where all employees are "welcomed, accepted and respected" and have the right to be addressed by their chosen name and pronouns.

But the Christian employee said he couldn't "lie" and violate his religious convictions. He was notified a few days afterward that he had been terminated.

At a library meeting last Thursday, a group of local pastors confronted the Baton Rouge library board and demanded Ash's immediate reinstatement. 

Pastor Lewis Richerson spoke at the meeting but was repeatedly interrupted by board members who told him his comments were not on the meeting agenda and therefore in violation of Louisiana's Open Meetings Law.

A tense library board meeting erupted last Thursday after a group of local pastors confronted library leadership over the pastor's firing and its "hostile" gender policy. (iStock)

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"Sir, do we need to get security for you? Because you are not following open meeting laws," board president Candace Temple told the pastor.

Richerson defended his comments to WAFB, saying that the group's demands pertained to the library budget.

Over 30 pastors also penned a letter to the library board on July 17 calling on the board to change its policy and "correct this injustice."

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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