The Supreme Court of Virginia has taken on the fight between a teacher and his school, where officials tried to force him to lie, and fired him when he wouldn’t.
The lies that were involved were the school’s demand that the teacher use pronouns for a student that conflicted with the student’s sex.
According to officials with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the state court awarded to Peter Vlaming an appeal in his case.
“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,” explained lawyer Chris Schandevel, who argued the petition for appeal on Vlaming’s behalf.
“As a teacher, Peter was passionate about the subject he taught, he was well-liked by his students, and he did his best to accommodate their needs and requests. But Peter could not in good conscience speak messages that he does not believe to be true. We’re pleased the Virginia Supreme Court agreed to hear this important case and are hopeful the court will agree the school board violated Peter’s rights under the Virginia Constitution and state law.”
Vlaming was fired for “avoiding the use of personal pronouns” regarding one student, and sued after he was dismissed in a ruling from the Circuit Court for the County of King William. Essentially the school dismissed him for refusing to adopt the politically correct practice of letting students decide what gender they are, and then promoting their choice.
The West Point School Board fired Vlaming, who taught French in the district for nearly six years, after he stated he couldn’t in good conscience comply with the superintendent’s order that he refer to one of his students using pronouns that were inconsistent with the student’s biological sex, the legal team explained.
“Vlaming tried to accommodate the student by consistently using the student’s new chosen name instead of the student’s given name and by avoiding the use of pronouns altogether,” the ADF reported. But school officials ordered him to start using pronouns that essentially lied about the student’s biological sex.
“Peter has every right to fight this unlawful decision by the school board, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to defend him at Virginia’s highest court,” said Tyson Langhofer, an ADF lawyer. “Peter went above and beyond to treat this student with respect, including using the student’s preferred name and avoiding pronoun usage in the student’s presence. This was never about anything Peter said. It is about a school demanding total conformity in utter disregard of Peter’s efforts and his freedoms under Virginia law.”
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