'Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,' said Alliance Defending Freedom's Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer
Mother sued and won against school district that refused to follow her request that they refer to her daughter by her given name and pronouns
Tammy Fournier said she and her husband did not go along with school district’s "affirmative care" model, so they removed her daughter from the district and she later desisted from her gender dysphoria
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.
"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)
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The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom against the school board in September 2019.
Vlaming, who taught French at West Point High School for 7 years, lost his job after the board made the unanimous 5-0 decision to fire him.
Vlaming said he could not comply with the school district’s policy to refer to students with pronouns inconsistent with their biological sex.
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)
According to the ADF,"Vlaming tried to accommodate the student by consistently using the student’s new preferred name and by avoiding the use of pronouns altogether."
However, school officials were obstinate that Vlaming used the student's preferred pronouns and also to use them "even when the student wasn’t present," ADF claimed.
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"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.
Several months before Vlaming's court victory, the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated this case after it was stuck down in a lower court. Per the Virginia Mercury, the King William Circuit Court "did not believe Vlaming had any valid reasons for the law to accept his suit."
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.
The board did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The settlement comes after Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin updated "model policies" regarding the treatment of transgender students, claiming that the previous "guidelines disregarded the rights of parents."
Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.
Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program.
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