In a landmark victory, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Thursday to restore a lawsuit that alleges a high school teacher’s free speech and free exercise of religion rights were violated when he was fired for saying he wouldn’t refer to one of his biologically female students by male pronouns.
The Commonwealth’s high court ruling reversed a circuit court’s decision to dismiss Peter Vlaming’s case before evidence was heard. The ruling mandates that the case must move forward, heading back to trial in the circuit court.
State’s High Court: Teacher’s Rights Violated
According to Virginia’s Supreme Court ruling, Vlaming “cannot in good conscience ‘use pronouns that express an objectively untrue ideological message.'” Vlaming stated in his lawsuit that his religion “prohibits him from intentionally lying” and that he “sincerely believes that referring to a female as a male by using an objectively male pronoun is telling a lie.”
In the decision, a majority of the justices agreed Vlaming’s rights were violated and the circuit court should not have been thrown out the case.
In writing the majority opinion, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey stated the court’s review of this case “seeks to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and
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