RICHMOND, Va. – To settle a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a former Virginia high school teacher who was fired for avoiding the use of pronouns to refer to one of his students, the West Point School Board has agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees. In addition, the school board cleared Peter Vlaming’s firing from his record, and separate from the settlement agreement, changed its policies to conform to the new Virginia education policies established by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that respect fundamental free speech and parental rights. The settlement follows last December’s landmark Virginia Supreme Court opinion in Vlaming’s favor affirming that the Virginia Constitution contains robust free speech and free exercise protections for public employees.
“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 ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “As a teacher, Peter was passionate about the subject he taught, was well-liked by his students, and did his best to accommodate their needs and requests. But he couldn’t in good conscience speak messages that he knew were untrue, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason. We’re pleased to favorably settle this case on behalf of Peter and hope other government and school officials will take note of the high cost involved in failing to respect an American’s constitutionally protected freedoms.”
“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. “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. I’m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights.”
ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit against the school board in September 2019. Vlaming taught French in the district for nearly seven years. The West Point School Board fired him after he stated he couldn’t in good conscience comply with the superintendent’s demand that he refer to one of his students using pronouns inconsistent with the student’s sex. Vlaming tried to accommodate the student by consistently using the student’s new preferred name and by avoiding the use of pronouns altogether. But school officials ordered him to stop avoiding the use of pronouns to refer to the student, even when the student wasn’t present, and to start using pronouns inconsistent with the student’s sex.
In December, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that it would reinstate Vlaming’s lawsuit after a lower court dismissed his case. In its opinion, the commonwealth’s high court wrote that the Virginia Constitution “seeks to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.”
Shawn Voyles, one of more than 4,800 attorneys in the ADF Attorney Network, served as co-counsel on Vlaming’s behalf.
In light of the settlement agreement, ADF attorneys filed a voluntary dismissal of the case, Vlaming v. West Point School Board, Monday.
