Court Hears Virginia Teacher’s Case Over Firing for Not Using Transgender Student’s Pronoun
A public school teacher who was fired for refusing to refer to a female student with male pronouns will have his case heard before the Virginia Supreme Court.
Peter Vlaming taught French at West Point High School in Virginia for nearly 10 years. He was placed on administrative leave in 2018 after he objected to calling a ninth-grade transgender student, who had been born female, by the student’s new preferred pronoun, “he.”
In December 2019, the school board unanimously voted to fire the teacher. Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) represent Vlaming and insist that no one should be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep a job.
“Peter has every right to fight this unlawful decision by the school board, and we will be defending him every step of the way,” said Tyson Langhofer, ADF Senior Counsel and director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “Peter went above and beyond to treat this student with respect, including using the student’s preferred masculine name and avoiding pronoun usage in the student’s presence.”
Langhofer added, “This was never about anything Peter said—or didn’t say—it is about a school demanding total conformity in utter disregard of Peter’s efforts and his freedoms under Virginia law.”
Vlaming sued the school board for violating his rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law. He appealed his case to the high court last fall. {eoa}
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