This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
The West Point School Board agreed to pay Peter Vlaming, a former high school French teacher, $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees after he declined to refer to a transgender student by his requested pronouns.
The agreement came several months after the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated Vlaming’s case, which the King William Circuit Court dismissed. The lower court did not believe Vlaming had any valid reasons for the law to accept his suit.
However, the Supreme Court determined in December that the school board violated Vlaming’s rights.
Vlaming’s lawsuit alleged “constitutional, statutory, and breach-of-contract claims” against the school district, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote in an opinion explaining the high court’s ruling.
“Examining only the allegations in Vlaming’s complaint, the circuit court dismissed Vlaming’s claims, finding that they failed to state legally viable causes of action. Disagreeing with the circuit court, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.”
Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal organization focused on protecting religious freedoms, represented Vlaming in the case and announced the settlement Monday.
“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say. The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel for ADF and director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, in a statement.
Langhofer said Vlaming felt using male pronouns to address the student were “untrue,” even though the student had recently undergone a gender transition and legal name change. ADF said that for Vlaming to use the preferred pronouns went against his religious beliefs and violated his right to free speech.
According to ADF, the board cleared Vlaming’s firing record and changed its policies to conform to the new policies overhauled by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. West Point School Board did not immediately respond to The Mercury’s request for comment.
In September 2022, Youngkin’s administration overhauled the state’s 2021 model school policies for transgender and nonbinary students designed under former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.
Most notably, the list of changes included requiring parental approval for any changes to students’ “names, nicknames, and/or pronouns,” a directive to schools to keep parents “informed about their children’s well-being,” and requiring that student participation in activities and athletics be based on sex and the use of bathrooms correspond to a students’ sex, except to the extent that federal law requires.
ADF and Vlaming said they are pleased that the case has been settled.
“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.
NOTE: West Point Public Schools is a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds the broadcast license for WHRO.
