The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s reinstating a teacher in Loudoun County who refused to comply with the school district’s policy forcing all staff and students to use only pronouns for students’ chosen gender rather than their biological sex.
In May, physical education teacher Tanner Cross told the Loudoun County School Board his Christian faith prohibited him from misleading children by confirming the transgender ideology that claims children can chose their “gender identity” and reject their biological sex, including picking the pronouns they want to use.
After his testimony, the school board put Cross on leave, banned him from school property, and said he could no longer address the board.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on the Virginia Supreme Court ruling:
In June, Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James E. Plowman ruled that the school district must reinstate Cross as the teacher’s lawsuit proceeds. Plowman called Loudoun’s punishment of Cross “unconstitutional” because it “silenced others from speaking publicly” on the issue of transgender rights. Loudoun appealed the decision to the state’s high court. The justices also signaled that they are broadly sympathetic to Cross’s suit.
“Cross was opposing a policy that might burden his freedoms of expression and religion by requiring him to speak and interact with students in a way that affirms gender transition,” the justices wrote. “Although the [Loudoun school] Board may have considered Cross’ speech to be ‘a trifling and annoying instance of individual distasteful abuse of a privilege,’ we believe Cross has a strong claim to the view that his public dissent implicates ‘fundamental societal values’ deeply embedded in our Constitutional Republic.”
Cross is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group that has a history of getting involved in lawsuits that question the rights of transgender people. In a statement on Cross’s behalf, Alliance attorney Tyson Langhofer hailed the state Supreme Court’s ruling as both vindication and victory.
“Teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false,” Langhofer said. “Nor should they be silenced for commenting at a public meeting.”
Cross will now continue his work as a physical education teacher as the lawsuit proceeds.
In Monday’s decision the justices wrote that they found one of the Loudoun school district’s main stated reasons for suspending Cross — that his comments were disrupting school operations — unconvincing.
Despite the lawsuit, the school board last month approved policy to allow “transgender” students to access school facilities and take part in activities according to the “gender identity” rather than their biological sex.
The board is also continuing to require school employees to address students by the preferred names and pronouns.
“Loudoun adopted the guidelines in obedience to a Virginia law, passed in 2020, that requires school districts statewide to update their rules for the treatment of transgender students to help guard against harassment,” AP reported.
AP sought the opinion of activists who promote the transgender lifestyle and ideology, including claiming people who won’t go along with the policies are hurting children by using “deadnames” and “misgendering” students.
The case is Loudoun County School Board v. Cross, No. 210584 in the Supreme Court of Virginia.
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