Virginia School Board Settles for $575,000 With Teacher Fired Over Transgender Pronoun Dispute

A Virginia school board has agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and legal fees to settle a lawsuit brought by former high school French teacher Peter Vlaming, who was dismissed after refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns, citing religious convictions.
He was fired in 2018 after he refused to refer to a transgender student by the student’s preferred male pronouns, citing sincerely held religious beliefs that gender is biologically determined and cannot be changed. He opted to use the student’s preferred name while avoiding the use of any pronouns. However, school administrators insisted he must use the student’s male pronouns in accordance with the district’s anti-discrimination policy. When Vlaming refused, the school board terminated his employment.
“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 in a statement. “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.”
In response to his dismissal, he sued the West Point School Board, arguing that the school violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution. He claimed that his rights to free speech and religious expression were infringed when he was forced to comply with what he described as “government-mandated pronouns in addition to using the student’s preferred name,” per the state Supreme Court ruling. Initially, a lower court dismissed the case, finding that his claims did not constitute legally viable causes of action.