By Liberty Counsel ——Bio and Archives--December 15, 2023
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The Virginia Supreme Court ruled yesterday to reinstate a lawsuit that alleges a high school teacher’s free speech and free exercise of religion rights were violated when he was fired for declining to refer to one his female student by male pronouns. The ruling reverses a circuit court’s decision to dismiss the case before evidence was heard and mandates it move forward to trial back in the circuit court.
In 2018, the West Point School Board fired Peter Vlaming, a French teacher, after he could not in “good conscience” with his religious beliefs comply with the school district’s demand that he refer to a gender-confused female student with masculine pronouns. Vlaming attempted to avoid the use of pronouns altogether and accommodate the student by using the student’s new preferred masculine name. However, school officials directed him to stop avoiding the use of pronouns and to refer to the student using the pronouns inconsistent with her biological sex. The school board ultimately fired Vlaming after he “accidentally” used a feminine pronoun when referring to the student in class.
According to Virginia’s Supreme Court ruling, Vlaming “cannot in good conscience ‘use pronouns that express an objectively untrue ideological message.’” Vlaming stated in his lawsuit that his religion “prohibits him from intentionally lying” and that he “sincerely believes that referring to a female as a male by using an objectively male pronoun is telling a lie.”
In the decision, a majority of the justices agreed Vlaming’s rights were violated and the circuit court should not have been thrown out the case.
In writing the majority opinion, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey stated their review of this case “seeks to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinions.” He noted that the nation is a Constitutional Republic and “cannot be true to itself” if it doesn’t allow people participating in the public marketplace of ideas to use their conscience.
“Absent a truly compelling reason for doing so, no government committed to these principles can lawfully coerce its citizens into pledging verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs,” wrote Justice Kelsey.
As the case moves forward, Vlaming, who is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, is seeking damages for the violation of his rights.
At least 1,046 U.S. school districts across the nation have adopted policies to support a child’s preferred pronouns and some school districts have enacted secrecy policies to hide any child’s gender confusion from parents.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “People have a right to live according to their conscience and religious beliefs. Government schools cannot force teachers to endorse or engage in ideological viewpoints that violate their religious beliefs or freedom of speech. The First Amendment guarantees the right to speak and the right to not speak.”
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Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.