The Virginia school board will pay $575,000 to a teacher who was fired for refusing to use trans students’ pronouns

WEST POINT, Va. – A school board in Virginia has agreed to pay $575,000 in settlement to a former high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use the pronouns of a transgender student, according to the advocacy group that filed the lawsuit pay.

Conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom announced the settlement Monday and said the school board also removed the firing of Peter Vlaming from its record. The former French teacher at West Point High School sued the school board and school administration after he was fired in 2018. A judge dismissed the lawsuit before examining evidence, but the state Supreme Court reinstated it in December.

The Daily Press reported that West Point Public Schools Superintendent Larry Frazier confirmed the agreement, saying in an email Monday: “We are pleased to be able to find a solution that does not negatively impact students.” staff or the West school community will have.” Period.”

Vlaming claimed in his lawsuit that he tried to accommodate a transgender student in his class by using his name but avoiding the use of pronouns. The student, his parents and the school informed him that he had to use the student’s male pronouns. Vlaming said he was not allowed to use the student’s pronouns because he has “sincerely religious and philosophical” beliefs “that every person’s gender is biologically determined and cannot be changed.” Vlaming also said he would be lying if he used the student’s pronouns.

Vlaming claimed that the school violated his constitutional right to speak freely and practice his religion. The school board argued that Vlaming violated the school’s anti-discrimination policy.

The state Supreme Court’s seven justices agreed that two lawsuits should proceed: Vlaming’s claim that his right to free exercise of religion under the Virginia Constitution had been violated, and his breach of contract lawsuit against the school board.

However, a dissenting opinion from three justices said the majority opinion on his claim to free exercise of religion was overly broad, establishing “a sweeping super-standard of scrutiny with the potential to overcome a person’s objection to virtually any policy or law by alleging religious exercise.” to shield.” Justification for not following either.”

“I was unfairly fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school leaders who dictated that teachers should only represent one perspective on gender identity – their preferred view,” Vlaming said in an ADF press release. “I loved teaching French and tried to be polite to every student in my class, but I was not allowed to say anything that would directly offend my conscience.”

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s guidelines on the treatment of transgender students, passed last year, rolled back many accommodations for transgender students required by the previous Democratic administration, including the ability for teachers and students to name a transgender student and the associated pronouns may refer to the gender assigned at birth.

Attorney General Jason Miyares, also a Republican, said in a non-binding legal analysis that the policies were consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and school boards must follow their guidelines. Lawsuits filed earlier this year have asked courts to throw out the guidelines and rule that school districts are not required to follow them.