‘Where Was The Inclusion?’: Pastor Fired For Not Using ‘Preferred Pronouns’ Claims Religious Discrimination

A Louisiana pastor sued the Baton Rouge library after it fired him for refusing to use “preferred pronouns.”

Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the library and East Baton Rouge Parish’s decision to terminate bi-vocational Pastor Luke Ash after he refused to use preferred pronouns, according to a Thursday press release from the legal group. The complaint states that the East Baton Rouge Parish Library specifically terminated Ash because his religious beliefs prevented him from using “preferred” male pronouns to refer to a biologically female coworker.

“Where was the inclusion and welcoming of diverse views when you happen to be a Christian? It seems in today’s world that’s non-existent,” Daniel Schmid, Associate Vice President of Legal Affairs at Liberty Counsel told Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.

“What we see so often [see] with these ‘inclusivity’ policies, is they’re inclusive of everyone but religious,” Schmid added.

“Pastor Ash contends that the library’s ‘Inclusivity Policy’ requiring such usage violated his First Amendment religious rights and that the library failed to engage in the Title VII religious accommodation process before firing him,” Liberty Counsel’s release added.

A coworker asked Ash in July 2025 whether he would use male pronouns for a biologically female trainee, according to the lawsuit. Ash said he refused, arguing that his Christian faith teaches biological sex is immutable and that using those pronouns would violate his religious convictions.

Ash desired to use the trainees’s name rather than their preferred pronouns, the lawsuit states.

“They could have provided him with accommodation. They chose not to. They chose to terminate him instead, explicitly for violation of the ‘inclusivity policy,’” Schmid told DCNF.

“The 1st amendment prohibits the government from compelling you to speak a message that violates your convictions. There’s a whole host of reasons why, but the right to speech allows an individual to say what they want and not to say what they don’t want,” the attorney added. “Also [you] have your traditional Title VII cases where employees are permitted to seek accommodation for their sincere religious convictions and you can’t fire someone for refusing to do so.”

Schmid also addressed the counter argument of that Ash should have received a religious exemption, that the pastor was a newer employee and that he never had sought a religious exemption in the past.

“The fact that he had never requested one before or never had one before is irrelevant to the obligation of the library to provide one here,” the attorney said.

“Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating in the process of hiring, and while an employee is hired. So if you have a sincere religious conviction that conflicts with an employment requirement, the attorney told DCNF. “The employer is under a duty under Title VII providing reasonable accommodations.”

Schmid added that there is a “whole host of laws out there that prohibit exactly what was done.” He specified that some of the laws are statutory and some constitutional. However, he said, they all point to one conclusion, “which is what the library did to Pastor Ash is unlawful.”

“Governments are bending over backwards, to compel religious adherence, to violate their convictions so that someone’s feelings aren’t hurt,” the attorney added. “Sometimes someone’s religious beliefs don’t comport with your views on the world. But you have to hear them, and we have laws that prohibit terminating someone’s employment or ostracizing them from the community just because they hold a belief different than yours.”

“What’s wrong with using a first name? We do that on a daily basis. What you’re trying to compel it to recognize something that’s not real. You’re compelling me to lie what his religious convictions are, and that [is] not the way it works,” he told the DCNF.

Ash is seeking legal action against multiple entities: Sid Edwards, Mayor-President of Baton Rogue, Brandon Noel, Mayor-Pro Tempore, Katrina Stokes, Library Director of the East Baton Rouge Parish and Candace Temple, President of the Library Board of Control of the City of East Baton Rouge.

“The East Baton Rouge Parish Library does not comment publicly on personnel matters,” Katrina Stokes, East Baton Rouge Parish Library Director, told the DCNF.

Edwards, Noel and Temple did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Liberty Counsel sent a letter on Oct. 10, 2025 requesting the library to reinstate Ash with back pay pushing for a reversion of the pronoun policy.

Luke Ash is the lead pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. The small church, established in 2025, has only two staff members: Ash and a music minister, according to its website.