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From ABC News: A Virginia school board has agreed to pay $575,000 in a settlement to a former high school teacher who was fired after he refused to use a transgender student’s pronouns, according to the advocacy group that filed the suit.
Conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom announced the settlement Monday, saying the school board also cleared Peter Vlaming’s firing from his record. The former French teacher at West Point High School sued the school board and administrators at the school after he was fired in 2018. A judge dismissed the lawsuit before any evidence was reviewed, but the state Supreme Court reinstated it in December.
The Daily Press reported that West Point Public Schools Superintendent Larry Frazier confirmed the settlement and said in an email Monday that “we are pleased to be able to reach a resolution that will not have a negative impact on the students, staff or school community of West Point.”
Vlaming claimed in his lawsuit that he tried to accommodate a transgender student in his class by using his name but avoided the use of pronouns. The student, his parents and the school told him he was required to use the student’s male pronouns. Vlaming said he could not use the student’s pronouns because of his “sincerely held religious and philosophical” beliefs “that each person’s sex is biologically fixed and cannot be changed.” Vlaming also said he would be lying if he used the student’s pronouns.
The school board claimed Vlaming had violated the school’s anti-discrimination policy, but Vlaming argued back that the school had violated his free speech and religious rights. He won.
“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,” Vlaming said.
Alliance Defending Freedom cheered the settlement in a statement on social media:
‼️VICTORIOUS SETTLEMENT‼️. VA school board will pay $575K & change policies to end our lawsuit on behalf of teacher Peter Vlaming who was wrongly fired for declining to use inaccurate pronouns.
No government should force its employees (or anyone else) to voice their allegiance to an ideology that violates their deepest beliefs. We’re glad Peter had the courage to stand by his convictions—and thankful he’s now been vindicated.
‼️VICTORIOUS SETTLEMENT‼️
VA school board will pay $575K & change policies to end our lawsuit on behalf of teacher Peter Vlaming who was wrongly fired for declining to use inaccurate pronouns.
No government should force its employees (or anyone else) to voice their allegiance… pic.twitter.com/lpltT7PfR4
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) October 1, 2024
A Virginia teacher who was wrongfully fired for refusing to use wrong pronouns, and using the correct sex based pronouns instead has won $575k. The school board is also required to change their policy.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled the teacher could not be forced to go… pic.twitter.com/fPRRZUNZ3u
— Joyreaper (@joyreaper) October 2, 2024
REPORT: Virginia School Board Agrees To Pay $575,000 To Teacher Wrongly Fired For Refusing To Play Along With A Student’s Mental Illness & Use Trans Pronouns.
He Was Fired For Refusing To Use Self-Proclaimed Transgender Student’s Preferred Pronouns.https://t.co/JGTmtvREN4— John Basham (@JohnBasham) October 2, 2024
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