A Virginia school board recently agreed to pay more than $500,000 to a teacher it fired for refusing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns, but one attorney said the move included “a seismic impact.” “It will have an impact.”
In late September, the West Point School Board reached a settlement with former high school teacher Peter Vlaming, paying him $575,000 in damages and attorneys' fees and terminating his employment, according to a press release from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). It was removed from employment records. . Additionally, the school board “changed its policies to comply with Governor Glenn Youngkin's new Virginia education policy, which respects fundamental free speech and parental rights,” which is part of the settlement. It wasn't a club.
ADF lawyers represented Mr. Vlaming in his case, which took five years to resolve.
pronoun predicament
Vlaming's troubles began when a student in his French class decided to “transition” from female to male, which included undergoing surgery. Vlaming reported that “he refused to use any male pronouns when referring to her, although he called her by the male name she preferred, which sounded equivalent in French.”
Students and their parents complained to school officials that they “felt disrespected,” as Superintendent Laura Abel said. Abel said Vlaming's actions created a “hostile learning environment” for the student.
Vice-principal Suzanne Aunspach warned Vlaming, who is Christian, that failing to refer to the student by male pronouns could lead to suspension. ADF alleges Vlaming was ordered to use these pronouns “even when the student was not present.”
However, the Virginia Supreme Court stated:
For Vlaming, this demand required a violation of conscience. He rejects the idea that “gender identity, rather than biological reality, fundamentally shapes and defines our true humanity as human beings,” and instead argues that “gender is fixed within each person.” have religious and philosophical beliefs that accept as truth that “that cannot be true.” Change can occur independently of our feelings and desires. “Mr. Vlaming's conscience and religious practices prohibit him from intentionally lying, and calling a woman a man using objectively masculine pronouns is a lie,” the complaint states. I sincerely believe that I am following the rules.''
The board ultimately voted unanimously to fire Vlaming in late 2018 after he refused to comply with his superiors' orders. ADF attorney Sean Boyles argued that these orders are based on district policy that has nothing to do with preferred pronouns.
“Peter wasn't fired for something he said. He was fired for something he couldn't say. The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and federal law.” ADF Senior Advisor Tyson Langhofer said in a press release. (emphasis in original)
productive argument
In September 2019, Mr. Vlaming filed a lawsuit. He argued that the board's actions “violate the due process, free speech, and free exercise rights under the Virginia Constitution.”
According to a report in the Virginia Mercury, the King William Circuit Court dismissed Vlaming's suit because it “believed that there was no good reason for the law to accept his complaint.”
However, in December, the Supreme Court remanded the case and sent it back to the Circuit Court for further proceedings. According to an ADF press release following the judgment, the court stated:
It rightly recognized that the Virginia Constitution “is intended to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.” The judgment continued: “Unless there is a truly compelling reason to do so, any government adhering to these principles cannot force its citizens to give verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. “No one can legally be forced to take an oath.”
Rather than continue a fight that was virtually certain to be lost, the school board settled with Mr. Vlaming.
Vlaming said in a statement:
I was unfairly fired from my teaching job because of my religious beliefs at a school that required teachers to believe (sic) only one view of gender identity: their preferred view. Because it set me on a collision course with management. I loved teaching French and tried to be polite to every student in my class, but I couldn't say anything that would directly go against my conscience. I am extremely grateful for the work of the lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom in helping me win my case, which will help protect the fundamental First Amendment rights of all other teachers and professors. I hope that it will be. (emphasis in original)
protection of educators
Kristen Wagoner, president and CEO of ADF, believes this is definitely the case. She told Fox News Digital on Friday that the settlement has “seismic implications.”
“We are grateful that this decision makes tolerance a two-way street, rather than one-way street against totalitarian ideology,” she said.
Considering the Supreme Court's reasons for reopening the case, “this case protects all teachers in Virginia, and its rationale should guide other courts addressing similar issues,” Wagoner said. explained:
Because of Peter's Christian faith, he could not lie to his students about biological reality by using pronouns that did not match their gender. Since the court victory, we have seen overwhelming gratitude and support on social media from people like Peter who teach or work in places that can punish them for living up to their beliefs. Ta.
According to Fox News, Vlaming has been cleared to resume her teaching career. But based on a December article in The New American, that seems unlikely. “Following the lawsuit, Vraming was blacklisted by all school districts in Virginia and was forced to relocate. He currently lives in France with his wife and family and works in an unrelated field. ”
