A Virginia school district has agreed to pay more than $500,000 in damages and attorney fees to settle a lawsuit brought by a former high school teacher who was fired over a pronoun dispute. At issue is Peter Vlaming, a French teacher who was fired from West Point High School in 2019 for refusing to use masculine pronouns for a student who is biologically female but identifies as male. This is a lawsuit filed by. The school rejected Mr. Vlaming's compromise, which agreed to use the student's preferred name instead of his first name.
Vlaming's lawsuit alleged that the school violated both his religious freedom and free speech rights.
In January, the Virginia Supreme Court sided with Vlaming, ruling that the state constitution “is intended to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.” I put it down.
“Absent a truly compelling reason, any government adhering to these principles cannot lawfully compel its citizens to verbally swear allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. “It cannot be forced,” the court ruled.
The West Point School Board agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and attorney's fees to settle the lawsuit. This also erased the dismissal from his record.
“I was unfairly fired from my teaching job because of my religious beliefs, which put me in conflict with school administrators who required teachers to believe in only one view of gender identity, the view they preferred. Vlaming said in a statement. “I loved teaching French and tried to be polite to every student in the class, but I couldn't say anything that would directly go against my conscience.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom represented Vlaming.
“Peter wasn't fired for saying something. He was fired for something he couldn't say,” said ADF senior adviser Tyson Langhofer. “The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and federal law. As a teacher, Peter is passionate about the subjects he teaches and is well-liked by his students. He did his best to accommodate the needs and desires of his students, but he could not in good conscience speak a message that he knew was not true, and neither could the school board or government officials. You can't punish someone for that.”
Photo credit: ©Alliance to Defend Freedom
michael faust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His articles have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star, and Knoxville News Sentinel.
