Nelli Parisenkova, a teacher in California, has allegedly been fired from her job at Bright Horizons Children's Center in Studio City because she refused to read books that featured LGBT themes. She worked at Bright Horizons Childcare Center for four years with students who were five years and younger. The Thomas More Society is filing a lawsuit on her behalf against the school and its staff saying that she is being discriminated against for her Christian beliefs.

Parisenkova was originally not required to read these books. She knew that Bright Horizons promoted books that included LGBT themes when she was hired back in 2018. She brought up her concerns, and they said that she would not be required to read those books. She never read the books, and it was never a problem. However, back in April 2022, Katy Callas, the director of the location, found out about Parisenkova’s objections to the books and refused to offer an exemption due to her religious beliefs. The director, a lesbian, reported her to the human resources department. She said she took “personal offense” to Parisenkova’s religious beliefs.

According to the complaint Parisenkova filed with the California Supreme Court, "Parisenkova formally requested a religious accommodation from Bright Horizons that aligned with her prior informally granted request. Bright Horizons responded by categorically denying the request." The suit goes on to say that Bright Horizons “made no attempt whatsoever to determine whether a reasonable accommodation could be reached."

“Instead, Bright Horizons issued a counseling memo with false statements, terminated her life insurance benefits, required her to complete retraining in diversity issues, and encouraged her to resign her position," the suit alleged. "Ms. Parisenkova could not return to work without an accommodation; so, Bright Horizons terminated her employment."

The director of Bright Horizons brought Parisenkova into her office and told her "if she did not want to celebrate diversity, this was not the place for her to work" according to the lawsuit.

According to Fox News, some of the charges being faced by Bright Horizons and its staff are “unlawful retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment, religion-based harassment, wrongful termination, failure to accommodate, unlawful constructive discharge and disparate treatment.”

Bright Horizons has hundreds of locations worldwide and employs about 26,000 people and is a strong supporter of the LGBT community. Locations have celebrated LGBT History Month by going to Pride parades and reading books with LGBT themes to children.

In a press release Attorney Paul Jonna, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, said, “Make sure you know what books are on the shelf in our children’s care programs and schools. This is a clear-cut case of one of the largest childcare employers in the country having anti-religious workplace policies that promote indoctrination of young children with the LGBT agenda.”

On the day that the lawsuit was filed, Bright Horizons released a YouTube video entitled “Bright Horizons Commitment to Diverse Authors” showing their commitment to promote more diverse authors and illustrators than they have been in the past. The video says that children’s books boost “empathy and social awareness.”

Bright Horizons was asked to give a comment by Fox News but has not responded at this time.

According to Attorney Paul Jonna, an attorney who works with the Thomas More Society, Parinsenkova’s termination was “unjust” and “blatantly illegal.”

Whether Nelli Parisenkova wins the lawsuit or not, this case should help shine a light on the many difficult issues surrounding freedom of expression, freedom of religion, the right of employers to control their environment, and their responsibility to accommodate and not discriminate in the workplace.