{"id":2465169,"date":"2025-07-22T10:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ikea-unlawfully-fires-christian-refusing-to-use-trans-pronouns\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T10:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:32:11","slug":"ikea-unlawfully-fires-christian-refusing-to-use-trans-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ikea-unlawfully-fires-christian-refusing-to-use-trans-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"IKEA &#8216;Unlawfully&#8217; Fires Christian Refusing To Use Trans Pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fikea-unlawfully-fires-christian-refusing-to-use-trans-pronouns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2465169&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An Indiana IKEA employee, Steven Ressler, was fired after refusing to use his co-worker&#8217;s preferred &#8220;they\/them&#8221; pronouns. Ressler, a devout Christian who believes in only two genders, had requested a religious accommodation to avoid using those pronouns, but was terminated three days later for &#8220;misgendering.&#8221; He filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >formal complaint alleging unlawful termination<\/a> and religious discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Indiana Civil Rights Commission. The situation reflects ongoing legal and cultural conflicts around gender identity and religious beliefs in the workplace. IKEA promotes support for the LGBTQIA+ community,but has faced previous controversies related to religious objections to LGBTQ+ issues,including a lawsuit in Poland and other legal cases in the U.S. There have been both losses and victories for individuals citing religious grounds in refusing to use preferred pronouns. The case highlights the complex balance between respecting gender identity and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-agency-sues-businesses-for-firing-workers-over-covid-vaccine-refusal\/\" title=\"Federal agency sues businesses for firing workers who refuse COVID vaccine.\">accommodating religious beliefs<\/a> in employment settings.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>An Indiana IKEA employee was fired after refusing to call his co-worker &ldquo;they\/them&rdquo; and filed an official complaint due to &ldquo;unlawful termination,&rdquo; the Indiana Family Institute said in a Wednesday press release.<\/p>\n<p>Steven Ressler, a &ldquo;devout Christian who believes there are only two genders&rdquo; and who&rsquo;s worked at IKEA since 2019, was under investigation in December for &ldquo;misgendering&rdquo; his co-worker. Soon after, Ressler filed for a &ldquo;religious accommodation request&rdquo; to &ldquo;inform my employer of my religious beliefs and engage in the interactive process in good faith,&rdquo; the press release said.<\/p>\n<p>Three days after filing the religious exemption, Ressler was fired on the basis of &ldquo;misgendering,&rdquo; the press release said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I believe IKEA discriminated against me by failing to accommodate my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-republicans-push-bill-aimed-at-balancing-lgbt-rights-and-religious-freedom\/\" title=\"House Republicans Push Bill Aimed at Balancing LGBT Rights and Religious Freedom\">sincerely held religious beliefs<\/a> against using &lsquo;they\/them&rsquo; pronouns when addressing a transgender employee and terminated me for misgendering,&rdquo;&nbsp;Ressler said.<\/p>\n<p>Ressler filed a &ldquo;formal complaint&rdquo; with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, the press release said.<\/p>\n<p>IKEA, the Swedish furniture and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bed-bath-beyond-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-after-long-struggle\/\" title=\"After a protracted battle, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond files for bankruptcy protection.\">home goods store<\/a>, has a page on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ikea.com\/us\/en\/this-is-ikea\/community-engagement\/lets-help-each-other-feel-at-home-pub9eaedea0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> on how to be &ldquo;an everyday ally&rdquo; and &ldquo;mak[e] space&rdquo; for the &ldquo;LGBTQIA+ community.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, a former Catholic IKEA employee in Poland sued IKEA after being fired for not taking down Bible verses rebuking homosexuality he posted on IKEA&rsquo;s article for &ldquo;International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been hired to sell furniture but I&rsquo;m a Catholic and these aren&rsquo;t my values,&rdquo; he said according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/ikea-poland-lgbt-lawsuit-1447954\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Newsweek<\/a>. The Polish court ruled in 2022 that IKEA was not guilty of religious discrimination, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/polish-court-clears-ikea-manager-who-fired-employee-anti-lgbt-remarks-2022-12-06\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>An Ohio university professor was told in 2020 to use &ldquo;the preferred pronouns of transgender students if he wishes to keep his job,&rdquo; Chad Greene <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/02\/20\/ohio-court-orders-christian-professor-to-use-trans-pronouns-or-lose-his-job\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported <\/a>for the The Federalist. The Ohio court even upheld the university&rsquo;s decision to not accommodate the professor&rsquo;s &ldquo;religious objections.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But there have been victories for those who have stood up to gender ideology on religious grounds.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the reinstatement of a teacher after he &ldquo;opposed proposals that would force educators to use students&rsquo; &lsquo;preferred pronouns&rsquo; instead of acknowledging their sex,&rdquo; The Federalist&rsquo;s Jordan Boyd <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/08\/31\/virginia-supreme-court-affirms-reinstating-loudoun-teacher-fired-for-refusing-to-use-anti-science-pronouns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On the federal level, government employees were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opm.gov\/media\/yvlh1r3i\/opm-memo-initial-guidance-regarding-trump-executive-order-defending-women-1-29-2025-final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> to remove pronouns in their email signatures and anything else that promotes &ldquo;gender ideology&rdquo; in their agency by the end of day on Jan 31.<\/p>\n<p>IKEA did not respond to The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment on whether they respect an employee&rsquo;s right to refer to another person according to their biology or if they took Ressler&rsquo;s religious exemption into consideration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Abigail Nichols is a correspondent for The Federalist. She was previously the opinion editor for the University of South Florida&#8217;s student newspaper, The Oracle. She is now working as the business manager at the University of North Florida&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-downplay-motives-of-alien-charged-with-attacking-jews\/\" title=\"Media Downplay Motives Of Alien Charged With Attacking Jews\">student-run media outlet<\/a>, Spinnaker Media, while obtaining a Master&#8217;s Degree in Social work.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indiana IKEA worker fired for refusing &#8220;they\/them&#8221; pronouns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3849,"featured_media":2465170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pexels-alexander-isreb-880417-1797405-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[59650,24455,47890],"class_list":["post-2465169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-christian-employee","tag-ikea","tag-trans-pronouns"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pexels-alexander-isreb-880417-1797405-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2465169"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2465173,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465169\/revisions\/2465173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2465170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2465169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2465169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2465169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}