A high school teacher in the United States who lost his job because he refused to use a student’s preferred pronouns has won a legal settlement after successfully challenging his dismissal.

Peter Vlaming is a high school French teacher in Virginia who was fired after he refused to use a student’s pronouns, because doing so would have conflicted with his beliefs.  His employer, the West Point School Board insisted that he use the student’s preferred pronouns, even when the student wasn’t present. While Mr Vlaming tried his best to accommodate the student by using the student’s new preferred name, he could not “in good conscience speak messages that he knew were untrue” by using pronouns that were inconsistent with the student’s sex.

Mr Vlaming said:

“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”.

ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Centre for Academic Freedom, said:

“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say”.

With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), he successfully challenged the decision of his employer to fire him. ADF argued that Mr Vlaming’s First Amendment rights under the state constitution had been violated. After a lower court dismissed the case, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in December that the lawsuit could proceed.

The school board agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and legal fees, as well as to clear his firing from his record. Separately, the school also changed its policies to accommodate free speech and parental rights.

Caleb Dalton, senior counsel at ADF said the settlement is “a win for freedom of speech in Virginia”, adding that:

“No government should force its employees – or anyone else – to voice their allegiance to an ideology that violates their deepest beliefs”.

The ADF, like HRLA, provides legal representation to ordinary individuals who are penalised or unfairly targeted because of their faith or beliefs.

In Australia, HRLA is representing child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Jillian Spencer who is similarly being penalised for refusing to automatically use preferred pronouns in the course of her employment. Her employer, the Queensland Children’s Hospital, has tried to compel Dr Spencer to automatically affirm the identity of children with gender confusion, including by using “preferred pronouns” and keeping all clinical records according to a patient’s preferred gender identity. Dr Spencer is open about preferring a more cautious and holistic approach and is challenging the actions of her employer.

Mr Vlaming’s victory highlights the importance of pushing back against attempts to silence and censor people because of their faith or beliefs. Unless decisions such as those taken by the West Point School Board are challenged, those seeking to suppress free speech will only become more emboldened. Defending fundamental freedoms – such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience – is essential—not just for today, but to secure lasting, generational wins that protect these rights for future generations.