Three Virginia Teachers Sue School Board Over ‘Preferred Pronouns’ Policy That Violates Their First Amendment Rights

If a student in the Harrisonburg City Public Schools system wakes up one morning and decides to pretend to be the opposite sex, administrators will force teachers to go along with the farce. They must lie and refer to a boy as “she,” and they cannot tell his parents that he may be going through a serious mental health crisis or dealing with destructive peer pressure — or both.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in 2022 filed a lawsuit on behalf of Virginia teachers Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh, and Laura Nelson over the school district’s “transgender” policy that would force them to lie, endorse lies, and deceive parents. ADF filed a brief in the case last Friday. From ADF:

In a series of on-the-job trainings, the school board directed teachers to “immediately implement” these practices: Always use students’ preferred pronouns, even when contrary to a student’s sex and do so without notifying parents or seeking their consent. These trainings arose from the school board’s nondiscrimination policy, which threatens discipline—including termination—for noncompliance.

So if a teacher doesn’t want to indulge in what could be a student’s sexual fantasies, they risk losing their livelihood? Sounds illegal.

As ADF noted, the Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a teacher who was fired for refusing to refer to a girl by male pronouns. The school district had to pay Peter Vlaming, a Christian, $575,000 for violating his rights.

The state’s highest court said that no government can coerce a citizen into “pledging verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs” unless it had a truly compelling reason.

Forcing a government employee to lie does not hold up to strict scrutiny. Who would imagine such a policy would trump an individual’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and religion? An irrational person would fit the bill.

“Virginia’s Constitution and other laws contain robust free speech and free exercise protections for public employees, and let teachers do their jobs,” said Vincent Wagner, ADF senior counsel. “Because of those protections, we urge the court to rule for our clients.”

Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom