A former French teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s “preferred pronouns” has won a massive settlement after the Virginia school board was ordered to pay him $500,000 in damages.
In 2018, Peter Vlamingiled a lawsuit against the district after he was fired.
The lawsuit argued that Vlaming’s termination violated his religious beliefs.
“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.”
Vlaming was teaching for ten years before being fired.
He was placed on administrative leave after refusing to address a biological female student with male pronouns.
The teacher tried to avoid pronouns to accommodate all of his students and also agreed to address them by their new masculine name rather than their birth name.
However, this wasn’t good enough for the district, and Vlaming was ordered to stop avoiding pronoun usage before the e-board voted to fire him after he accidentally referred to the student with feminine pronouns.
Later, Vlaming sued the school board for violating his rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law.
The law “prohibits him from intentionally lying,” and he “sincerely believes that referring to a female as a male by using an objectively male pronoun is telling a lie,” CBN reported.
Initially, a lower court initially dismissed the case, but following an appeal, the e high court then ruled that the teacher’s rights were violated.
“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer.
“The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer.
The district has now agreed to settle the case and has been ordered to pay Vlaming $575,000 in damages and attorney fees. His professional record will also be cleared.”
The district was forced its policies to reflect Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin’s directives to uphold free speech.
READ: CNN Advises Parents What to Do If Their Toddler Comes Out As Trans
