Brownsburg High School has a policy that mandates teachers call transgender students by their preferred name, in place of their birth name.

John Kluge, who taught at the high school for four years, disagreed with the rule and said he instead wanted to refer to the student by their last name.

“I feel the compelled speech of forcing a teacher to take a side on this very highly controversial topic is a violation of our First Amendment rights,” Kluge told ABC affiliate WRTV.

Kluge told WRTV the school told him he must either follow the policy, resign or be fired. He said he submitted a conditional resignation later, but later withdrew the resignation before the deadline.

A school district representative told WRTV that Kluge voluntarily submitted a resignation and the administration accepted it.