French teacher settles with school board over dismissal

A French teacher has reached a settlement with the Virginia school board that fired him for refusing to use the pronouns of a transgender boy.

Peter Vlaming will receive $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees, said his legal team at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a far-right advocacy group known for filing lawsuits aimed at denying the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people restrict.

“I was unfairly fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with the school administration, which required teachers to report to the school.” just one Perspective on gender identity – their preferred perspective,” he said in a statement. “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. I am very grateful to my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom for leading my case to victory and hope that this will help protect the First Amendment rights of all other teachers and professors.”

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West Point Public Schools Superintendent Larry Frazier told Newport News affiliate The Daily Press: “We are pleased to be able to find a solution that will not negatively impact West Point students, staff or the school community becomes.”

The Virginia Supreme Court last December reinstated Vlaming’s lawsuit, which the King William County District Court had previously dismissed.

“[N]“A government committed to these principles may lawfully compel its citizens to swear verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the decision continued. The justices concluded that the lower court “erroneously dismissed this claim on the grounds that Vlaming’s factual allegations, even if accepted as true, are legally insufficient to establish a free exercise claim” under the law from Virginia.