Virginia school board agrees to pay $575,000 settlement with Christian teacher fired for refusing to use students pronouns

RICHMOND, Va. – The West Point School Board has agreed to a $575,000 settlement with Peter Vlaming, a Christian former high school teacher, who was dismissed for refusing to use pronouns that did not align with a student’s biological sex. The settlement, which resolves a lawsuit brought by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), includes damages and attorneys’ fees. Additionally, the school board has cleared Vlaming’s firing from his record.

The settlement follows a landmark Virginia Supreme Court ruling in December 2023 that sided with Vlaming. The court confirmed that the Virginia Constitution offers strong protections for public employees’ free speech and religious freedoms.

“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law.”

Vlaming, who taught French for nearly seven years, was fired in 2018 after he expressed that his religious beliefs prevented him from complying with a directive to use pronouns inconsistent with the student’s sex. While Vlaming consistently used the student’s new preferred name and tried to avoid using pronouns altogether, school officials ordered him to stop avoiding pronouns and to use those that corresponded with the student’s gender identity, even when the student was not present.

“I was wrongfully fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school administrators,” Vlaming said. “I loved teaching French and tried to accommodate every student, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience.”

In addition to the financial settlement, the West Point School Board has updated its policies to align with the new education standards set by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. These policies respect both free speech and parental rights.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2019, with Vlaming’s case gaining significant attention as it moved through the courts. In its decision, the Virginia Supreme Court emphasized that the state constitution protects “diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.”

ADF attorneys filed a voluntary dismissal of the case on September 30, 2024, marking the conclusion of Vlaming’s legal battle.