Post Detail

Virginia school board to pay 'wrongfully fired' teacher who refused to use student's preferred pronouns

"I was wrongfully fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school administrators who mandated that teachers ascribe to only one perspective on gender identity—their preferred view," Peter Vlaming said. 

"I loved teaching French and gracefully tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience," he added. "I’m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights."

The Virginia-based West Point School Board agreed to pay a former high school teacher $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees after he refused to call a transgender student by their preferred pronouns. (iStock)

Peter Vlaming said he could not comply with the school district’s policy to refer to students with pronouns inconsistent with their biological sex. (istock)

"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 commonwealth law," ADF senior counsel Tyson Langhofer said.  

Republican Virignia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in September 2022 updated "model policies" regarding the treatment of transgender students, claiming that the previous "guidelines disregarded the rights of parents." (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

"However, the Supreme Court determined in December that the school board violated Vlaming’s rights," the outlet reported.