This Virginia School District Requires Teachers to Mislead and Deceive Parents — Teachers Argue Their Case Today

A circuit court will hear arguments today in a case that involves three teachers who allege that the Harrisonburg County school board’s “transgender” policy violates their rights by forcing them to speak a message they oppose.

If a child decides he or she wants to use opposite-sex pronouns, for example, teachers must refer to the child by incorrect pronouns and can’t share this information with parents. Teachers also must ask the child’s preferred name and use it and can’t inform parents.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents teachers Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh, and Laura Nelson, filed a lawsuit against the school board on the teachers’ behalf. They allege that the “transgender” policy violates the state constitution, the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and other legal provisions.

ADF lawyer Kate Anderson said that the Virginia Supreme Court has affirmed in Vlaming v. West Point School Board that school boards can’t compel teachers to use incorrect pronouns.

“Yet the Harrisonburg City School Board has been doing just that. It has tried to force Deb, Kris, and Laura, teachers whom we represent in this case, to violate their religious beliefs by compelling them to use pronouns inconsistent with students’ sex and prohibiting them from notifying parents or seeking their consent.”

The West Point School District in West Point, Virginia, fired Peter Vlaming, a French teacher, because he refused to refer to students with incorrect pronouns. He sued, and the state’s highest court ruled in his favor. The school district had to pay him $575,000 in damages and fees.

Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom

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