• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
Virginia high school teacher Peter Vlaming was fired for not using a student's preferred pronouns.

1A Win: Teacher Fired for Refusing to Use Trans Student’s Pronouns Gets Lawsuit Reinstated

December 17, 2023
President Of ICE-Raided Pot Farm Doled Out Thousands In Donations To Newsom, Dems

President Of ICE-Raided Pot Farm Doled Out Thousands In Donations To Newsom, Dems

July 11, 2025
Tariffs Help US Government Post Unexpected June Surplus

Tariffs Help US Government Post Unexpected June Surplus

July 11, 2025
STEVE MILLOY: Climate Activists Wipe Out While Surfing The Tragic Texas Flooding

STEVE MILLOY: Climate Activists Wipe Out While Surfing The Tragic Texas Flooding

July 11, 2025
Iranian Group Reportedly Offers $40 Million Bounty On Trump For ‘Cause Of Allah’

Iranian Group Reportedly Offers $40 Million Bounty On Trump For ‘Cause Of Allah’

July 11, 2025
Organizers Cancel Event After Threats Pile On Against Award-Winning Cartoonist For Offensive Texas Flood Post

Organizers Cancel Event After Threats Pile On Against Award-Winning Cartoonist For Offensive Texas Flood Post

July 11, 2025
California US Attorney Eviscerates ‘Unserious’ Gavin Newsom For Railing Against ICE’s Raid On Marijuana Farm

California US Attorney Eviscerates ‘Unserious’ Gavin Newsom For Railing Against ICE’s Raid On Marijuana Farm

July 11, 2025
Boston Health Commission Employee Arrested In Connection To Fatal Shooting

Boston Health Commission Employee Arrested In Connection To Fatal Shooting

July 11, 2025
New Mine Inches America Closer To Unshackling Itself From China

New Mine Inches America Closer To Unshackling Itself From China

July 11, 2025
‘I’m Not Built For This’: George Santos Tells Tucker Carlson He Might Not ‘Survive’ Prison

‘I’m Not Built For This’: George Santos Tells Tucker Carlson He Might Not ‘Survive’ Prison

July 11, 2025
ICE Rescues Children At Marijuana Farm – LA Mayor Responds With Sanctuary Order

ICE Rescues Children At Marijuana Farm – LA Mayor Responds With Sanctuary Order

July 11, 2025
Clinton for Prison? Ex-DNI Ratcliffe Says 'Enough Evidence' to Indict 'Multiple People' – Report

Facebook Smacks Hillary Clinton With Community Note Over Abortion Claim

July 11, 2025
‘We’re Going To Lose’: Steve Bannon Warns Withholding Epstein Files Would Doom GOP

‘We’re Going To Lose’: Steve Bannon Warns Withholding Epstein Files Would Doom GOP

July 11, 2025
  • Donald Trump
  • State of the Union
  • Elon Musk
  • Tariffs
  • Congress
  • Faith
  • Immigration
Friday, July 11, 2025
  • Login
IJR
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls
No Result
View All Result
IJR
No Result
View All Result
Home News

1A Win: Teacher Fired for Refusing to Use Trans Student’s Pronouns Gets Lawsuit Reinstated

by Western Journal
December 17, 2023 at 11:28 am
in News
235 17
0
Virginia high school teacher Peter Vlaming was fired for not using a student's preferred pronouns.

Virginia high school teacher Peter Vlaming was fired for not using a student's preferred pronouns. (@CitiznYC / X)

491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The lawsuit of a Virginia teacher whose effort to sue a school that dismissed him for not falling in line on the use of pronouns when speaking to a student was cut short has won a victory in court.

Virginia’s Supreme Court last week reinstated core parts of a lawsuit filed by Peter Vlaming, who had been a French teacher at West Point High School until he was fired in 2018, according to the Associated Press.

Key to Vlaming’s claims was that he could not use the student’s preferred pronouns due to his “sincerely held religious and philosophical” beliefs “that each person’s sex is biologically fixed and cannot be changed.”

The court said that the lawsuit involved the First Amendment guarantee of the free exercise of religion and should move forward, overruling the lower court that threw it out.

At the time, the district justified its actions by saying Vlaming was insubordinate, according to Richmond.com.

“Mr. Vlaming was recommended for termination due to his insubordination and repeated refusal to comply with directives made to him by multiple WPPS administrators. That discrimination then leads to creating a hostile learning environment. And the student had expressed that. The parent had expressed that. They felt disrespected,” West Point Schools Superintendent Laura Abel said then.

The ruling reinstating the lawsuit viewed the issue differently, saying it could not compel Vlaming to speak in a way that contradicted his faith.

“The issue here is not whether the School Board’s policies forbidding discrimination and harassment of students applied (as the School Board asserts) or did not apply (as Vlaming asserts) to the compelled-speech situation alleged in the complaint,” the court ruled.

“The issue is whether Vlaming’s sincerely held religious beliefs caused him to commit overt acts that ‘invariably posed some substantial threat to public safety, peace or order,’ and if so, whether the government’s compelling state interest in protecting the public from that threat, when examined under the rigors of strict scrutiny, could be satisfied by ‘less restrictive means,’” the ruling said.

Teacher Fired for Not Using Student’s Preferred Pronouns Wins Major Victory

In a gratifying win for religious freedom and free speech, the Virginia Supreme Court concluded Thursday that embattled Virginia high school teacher Peter Vlaming, who had been fired over his refusal to… pic.twitter.com/l2ql7WIIwb

— Citizen YC (@CitiznYC) December 16, 2023

“When religious liberty merges with free-speech protections, as it does in this case, mere ‘objectionable’ and ‘hurtful’ religious speech or, as in this case, nonspeech, is not enough to meet this standard,” the ruling said.

The ruling said Virginia’s constitution “seeks to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.”

“Absent a truly compelling reason for doing so, no government committed to these principles can lawfully coerce its citizens into pledging verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the ruling said.

The ruling did not decide the merits of the case, only that Vlaming had “sufficiently alleged” that his free exercise rights were violated, requiring that his lawsuit be heard.

Vlaming was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say. The Virginia Supreme Court rightly agreed that Peter’s case against the school board for violating his rights under the Virginia Constitution and state law should proceed,” ADF Senior Counsel Chris Schandevel said on the ADF’s website.

“As a teacher, Peter was passionate about the subject he taught, was well-liked by his students, and did his best to accommodate their needs and requests. But he couldn’t in good conscience speak messages that he doesn’t believe to be true, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason,” he said.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

Tags: lawsuitLGBTTransgenderU.S. NewsVirginia
Share196Tweet123
Western Journal

Western Journal

Advertisements

Top Stories June 10th
Top Stories June 7th
Top Stories June 6th
Top Stories June 3rd
Top Stories May 30th
Top Stories May 29th
Top Stories May 24th
Top Stories May 23rd
Top Stories May 21st
Top Stories May 17th

Join Over 6M Subscribers

We’re organizing an online community to elevate trusted voices on all sides so that you can be fully informed.





IJR

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Trusted Voices On All Sides

  • About Us
  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Editorial Standards & Corrections Policy
  • Subscribe to IJR

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Top Stories June 10th Top Stories June 7th Top Stories June 6th Top Stories June 3rd Top Stories May 30th Top Stories May 29th Top Stories May 24th Top Stories May 23rd Top Stories May 21st Top Stories May 17th