A Virginia school board has agreed to pay $575,000 as a settlement to a former high school teacher who was fired after refusing to use the pronouns of a transgender student, according to the advocacy group that filed the suit .
The conservative Christian advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom announced the settlement Monday, saying the school board also expunged Peter Vlaming’s dismissal from its record. The former West Point High School French teacher sued the school board and school administrators after he was fired in 2018. A judge dismissed the suit before the evidence was reviewed, but the Supreme Court of The state reinstated it in December.
Jonathan Hochman, director told to school board in 2018 that Vlaming allegedly refused to call a ninth grader by the male pronouns “he” and “him” because he considered it a “lie.” The student had transitioned and used male pronouns.
Vlaming said he would refer to the student by his new name but would not use pronouns, citing his devout Christian faith.
He was fired, the principal said, because he repeatedly refused to follow the school’s directive to use pronouns and created a “hostile environment.”
Vlaming alleged the school violated his constitutional right to speak freely and exercise his religion. The school board argued that Vlaming violated the school’s anti-discrimination policy.
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 negatively impact students, staff or the West Point school community. Indicate.”
The seven justices of the state Supreme Court agreed that two claims should be advanced: Vlaming’s claim that his right to freely exercise his religion had been violated under the Virginia Constitution and his claim for breach of contract against the school board.
But a three-judge dissenting opinion said the majority’s view on its free exercise of religion claim was too broad and “establishes a thorough standard of review with the potential to protect any person’s objection to virtually no “regardless of any policy or law by invoking religion”. justification for their failure to follow one or the other.
“I was wrongfully terminated from my teaching position because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school administrators who demanded that teachers adhere to only one perspective on identity gender – their preferred point of view,” Vlaming said in an ADF press release. “I loved teaching French and graciously tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that would directly violate my conscience.”
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policies on the treatment of transgender students, finalized last year, rolled back many accommodations for transgender students requested by the previous Democratic administration, including allowing teachers and students to refer to a transgender student by the name and pronouns associated with their sex assigned at birth.
Attorney General Jason Miyares, also a Republican, said in a nonbinding legal analysis that the policies complied with federal and state nondiscrimination laws and that school boards must follow their guidelines. Lawsuits filed earlier this year asked courts to strike down the policies and rule that school districts are not required to follow them.
Lawsuits have been filed in other states over the use of pronouns and transgender rights in schools. In Florida, part of a 2023 law restrict pronouns and titles educators can use in public schools, teachers filed a lawsuit in 2024 in an effort to overturn this restriction. In Colorado, parents continue the Board of Education and others, claiming their constitutional rights were violated after their daughter was encouraged to change gender without their knowledge or consent.
North Dakota lawmakers failed to override the governor’s veto in 2023 of a controversial bill to impose restrictions on educators using transgender pronouns in schools. The bill would have banned the use of transgender pronouns in schools unless educators received permission from the student’s parents, in addition to the school administrator.
Caitlin O’Kane contributed to this report.
