A Virginia school board has agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and legal fees to settle a lawsuit brought by former high school French teacher Peter Vlaming, who was dismissed after refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns, citing religious convictions.
Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom and senior counsel for the ADF, which represented Vlaming in his lawsuit, praised the settlement.
“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,” Langhofer said in a statement. “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.”
Vlaming’s case, which began in 2019, became a focal point in the ongoing national debate over free speech, religious liberty, and transgender rights in education. The case gained renewed attention in December 2023, when the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated Vlaming’s lawsuit after it had been dismissed by a lower court. The decision ultimately led to the settlement and voluntary dismissal of the case.He was fired in 2018 after he refused to refer to a transgender student by the student’s preferred male pronouns, citing sincerely held religious beliefs that gender is biologically determined and cannot be changed. He opted to use the student’s preferred name while avoiding the use of any pronouns. However, school administrators insisted he must use the student’s male pronouns in accordance with the district’s anti-discrimination policy. When Vlaming refused, the school board terminated his employment.
“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. “I loved teaching French and gracefully tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience.”
In response to his dismissal, he sued the West Point School Board, arguing that the school violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution. He claimed that his rights to free speech and religious expression were infringed when he was forced to comply with what he described as “government-mandated pronouns in addition to using the student’s preferred name,” per the state Supreme Court ruling. Initially, a lower court dismissed the case, finding that his claims did not constitute legally viable causes of action.
“Our Constitutional Republic, framed upon principles of classical liberalism, cannot be true to itself if it curates between those who can and those who cannot participate in the public marketplace of ideas and retreat, when necessary, to the private sanctuary of conscience,” the state Supreme Court’s majority opinion reads. “Absent a truly compelling reason for doing so, no government committed to these principles can lawfully coerce its citizens into pledging verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
In addition to reinstating the case, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld two key claims: Vlaming’s assertion that his right to freely exercise his religion had been violated, and his breach-of-contract claim against the school board. The ruling paved the way for the settlement announced by the ADF on Sept. 30.
Under the terms of the settlement, the West Point School Board will pay $575,000 to Vlaming, covering damages and legal fees. The board has also cleared his termination from his record, allowing him to pursue teaching positions without the stigma of dismissal.
West Point Public Schools Superintendent Larry L. Frazier Jr. expressed satisfaction with the settlement, emphasizing that it would not negatively affect the school community.
