The West Point School Board in Virginia has agreed to pay former high school teacher Peter Vlaming $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees after he was fired for refusing to call a transgender student by their preferred pronouns. Vlaming, who taught French for seven years at West Point High School, stated that his dismissal stemmed from a conflict between his religious beliefs and the school’s policies on gender identity.
“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. He expressed gratitude to his legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) for their assistance in achieving this settlement and emphasized the importance of protecting First Amendment rights for educators.
Vlaming’s legal battle began in September 2019 when ADF filed a lawsuit against the school board after Vlaming was terminated following a unanimous decision by the board. He maintained that he attempted to accommodate the student by using their new preferred name and avoiding pronouns, but school officials insisted he use the student’s preferred pronouns consistently, even in their absence.
ADF senior counsel Tyson Langhofer argued that Vlaming’s termination was a violation of his First Amendment rights, stating, “Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say.”
The case saw a significant turn when the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated Vlaming’s lawsuit after a lower court had previously dismissed it. The Supreme Court concluded that the school board had indeed violated Vlaming’s rights.
This settlement arrives in the context of broader discussions about the treatment of transgender students in Virginia. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin recently updated state policies regarding how schools handle issues related to transgender students, asserting that previous guidelines neglected parental rights.
The West Point School Board has not yet commented publicly on the settlement.
