Free Speech Win: VA Supreme Court Revives Lawsuit by Teacher Fired for Not Using Trans Student’s Pronouns

Virginia’s Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit filed by a high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns.

The court’s action happened on Thursday, according to the Washington Post.

Virginia Supreme Court puts school boards on notice: preferred pronoun mandates won’t fare well

Big win for @ADFLegal & @JasonMiyaresVA, bad sign for @VASchoolBoards

Virginians enjoy stronger conscience rights than under U.S. Constitutionhttps://t.co/pHhBVE14rN

— Greg Piper (@gregpiper) December 15, 2023

The newspaper continued:

In a split 143-page decision, the justices overturned a lower court decision dismissing Peter Vlaming’s case, which has drawn national attention because it pitted the hotly contested issues of transgender rights and religious freedom against each other. In its 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court remanded the case to a lower court for trial.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the conservative Christian group that is representing Vlaming, called the ruling a “sweeping victory” for free speech and religious rights, and Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R) said “it dramatically expands the protection of religious liberty.”

In a social media post on Thursday evening, the Babylon Bee’s Seth Dillon shared his thoughts on the issue, writing, “Cases like these prove that they aren’t just ‘preferred’ pronouns. They’re mandatory.”

“You’ll be fired if you don’t use them. So let them fire you, then sue them and defend your freedom. You have every right to refuse to affirm radical gender ideology,” he stated:

Cases like these prove that they aren’t just “preferred” pronouns. They’re mandatory. You’ll be fired if you don’t use them. So let them fire you, then sue them and defend your freedom.

You have every right to refuse to affirm radical gender ideology. https://t.co/cgnGoPiqLq

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) December 15, 2023

In his lawsuit, the French teacher said he was unable to refer to the transitioning student, who was born a girl, with male pronouns because it went against his Christian faith, per the Post article.

The instructor “told the student he would use the student’s preferred male name in class and try not to use pronouns in an effort to balance the student’s wishes and his own religious beliefs, according to the lawsuit,” the report said.

However, school leadership informed the teacher it would violate the school’s nondiscrimination policy to not use the preferred pronouns in the classroom. Vlaming stood his ground but lost his job in December 2018.

According to a Breitbart News report published on October 1, 2019, Vlaming filed the lawsuit after being “unanimously fired” by the West Point School Board.

In May 2022, Miyares filed a brief in support of the teacher, per Breitbart News.

Miyares’ brief stated in the introduction:

No State has more jealously guarded and preserved the questions of religious belief and religious worship as questions between each individual man and his Maker than Virginia. The Commonwealth’s interest in securing the religious liberty of its citizens against interference or penalty from any government remains as strong today as it was when those [constitutional] provisions were adopted more than 200 years ago.

Now, Vlaming wants his job reinstated along with damages of $1 million in the case, the Post article said.

The teacher does have grounds to sue, according to the state’s Supreme Court. Therefore, it reinstated the lawsuit.

The case is Vlaming v. West Point School Board, No. 211061 in the Supreme Court of of Virginia.

Breitbart