The fate of a northern Virginia elementary teacher’s job remains unclear after Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) said it would appeal a judge’s order to reinstate the educator.
Bryon “Tanner” Cross, who teaches physical education, was put on administrative leave after telling the school board he won’t address children by preferred pronouns because it’s against his religion.
As CBN’s Faithwire previously reported, Cross was also suspended for saying during an LCPS board meeting that he wouldn’t “lie” by affirming to students “that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa.”
“I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them, regardless of the consequences,” he said in late May. “I’m a teacher, but I serve God first, and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl, and vice versa, because it’s against my religion. It’s lying to a child. It’s abuse to a child. And it’s sinning against our God.”
Judge James Plowman issued a temporary injunction last Tuesday, stating that the teacher was exercising his right to free speech. Cross is back to work for now.
In a statement, LCPS said it “respectfully disagrees” with the court’s decision to issue the injunction and will appeal the ruling.
Cross’s temporary injunction will be in place until Dec. 31 unless a higher court decides to expand it.
Loudoun County is now ground zero for a growing number of national debates on controversial school policies.
Parents attending a school board meeting last month were up in arms over sexually explicit material required for students as young as the 9th grade. At the public meeting, some parents read the lewd, jaw-dropping passages aloud from their children’s required books.
In the clip — which contains content that may be offensive to some readers — the parents read excerpts describing scenarios ranging from violent domestic abuse to underage teens engaging in various sexual acts.
Warning: the video below contains explicit language.
Angry Loudoun County public school parents read heinous passages from county’s 9th grade reading material. pic.twitter.com/GYnQFExJ00
— MRCTV (@mrctv) May 14, 2021
And Cross’s pastor, Cornerstone Chapel’s Gary Hamrick, said earlier this month that he supports the recall of at least six LCPS members who are “emotionally abusing our children by perpetuating the lie about gender confusion.”
Then, Loudoun County Democrats issued a statement calling for the pastor to retract his comments because they could incite violence.
Pastor Hamrick told CBN News that he was simply “telling the truth” and wouldn’t recant his comments.
Hamrick stressed that he was also speaking for the “thousands of parents in Loudoun County who are outraged.”
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN
