A former French teacher, Peter Vlaming, has been awarded $575,000 by a Virginia school board after being dismissed for not using a transgender student’s chosen pronouns.
Vlaming, supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group, argued that his termination violated his religious beliefs.
“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,” Vlaming said.
After initially losing in a lower court, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in his favor, stating his First Amendment rights were violated.
“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.
The school district has since amended its policies to align with state directives on free speech and parental rights.
“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,” ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said.
“The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law,” Langhofer added.
