Louisiana pastor fired from library job for refusing to use preferred pronouns

 By Will Hall - Posted at Baptist Press:

Published July 18, 2025

BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Luke Ash, the bivocational pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, was fired July 10 as a library technician by the East Baton Rouge Parish Library because he declined to use pronouns with another library employee that did not reflect her biological sex.

Speaking to a crowd of pastors July 17 Ash indicated he was not looking for a fight, but that using male pronouns in speaking to a female coworker would have conflicted with his belief in the biblical truth about God’s creation of male and female and consequently would have been a lie.

The matter has drawn attention with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murril weighing in.

In response to a social media post about Pastor Ash, Landry wrote on X July 16, “Louisianans should never lose their job because they refuse to lie! Louisiana is the real world, and in the real world, preferred pronouns don’t exist – only biological ones!”

Murrill added her thoughts on X July 17, writing, “Louisiana isn’t New York or California. State law prohibits discrimination based on religion in the workplace, especially as a public employee in a taxpayer funded public library. In Louisiana – Christians have rights just like everyone else.”

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