Virginia School Board Will Pay Damages to Teacher Fired for Refusing Transgender Student’s Pronouns AP Photo/Steve Helber

The West Point School Board in Virginia has settled to pay $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to a teacher fired for refusing to call a transgender student by their preferred pronouns.

Peter Vlaming, a French teacher was unanimously fired by the West Point School Board in December 2018 for rejecting the use of a transgender student’s pronouns.

In 2019, he filed a lawsuit claiming the termination violated his First Amendment rights. On Monday, the school board settled the suit after it had been kicked around between various courts over several months. Per the Virginia Mercury:

The agreement came several months after the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated Vlaming’s case, which the King William Circuit Court dismissed. The lower court did not believe Vlaming had any valid reasons for the law to accept his suit.

However, the Supreme Court determined in December that the school board violated Vlaming’s rights.

Vlaming’s lawsuit alleged “constitutional, statutory, and breach-of-contract claims” against the school district, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote in an opinion explaining the high court’s ruling.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal organization that had been representing Vlaming, said Peter was fired due to something he coudn’t say.

“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,” added Langhofer.

“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.”

The school board also cleared Vlaming’s firing record and changed policies to correspond with rules set forth by Glen Youngkin’s administration, which overturned policies set forth by former Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam.

“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 in a statement.

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