Virginia teacher sues school after being fired for not using transgender student's pronouns

[Coventina]

Source: NBC News

A Virginia high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns has filed a lawsuit against school officials and the board.

Peter Vlaming, who was a French teacher at West Point High School, said he was fired because he would not use pronouns such as "him" and "his" to refer to a female student who was transitioning to male.

According to the suit filed Monday in King William County, using the male pronouns would have "violated" Vlaming's "conscience" and went against his religious beliefs, so he called the student by his preferred name during class and avoided using pronouns altogether.

When the school found out, administrators told Vlaming to either use male pronouns or risk losing his job.

The suit also states that Vlaming was accused of using female pronouns when discussing the student to other people and during one incident in class, Vlaming referred to the student as "her." Vlaming acknowledged the incident saying that it was unintentional and he addressed it with the student after class, according to the lawsuit.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/virginia-teacher-sues-school-after-being-fired-not-using-transgender-n1060876

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This is what "religious freedom" gets us.

[TomSlick]

1. I'm unconvinced that religious beliefs allow a public school teacher to be rude to students.

I do not see a legal distinction between the teacher's actions and him using religious epithets based on his religious convictions.

[Chemisse]

3. "so he called the student by his preferred name during class and avoided using pronouns altogether."

That seems okay to me (minus the one incident in class).

I don't agree with this guy's sentiment, but if he did not use the wrong pronoun with the student, I don't see the problem. I suspect he voiced his discomfort with other adults and that got him in hot water. It sounds like he was trying.

[melm00se]

4. agree

^ this

[Ms. Toad]

5. Not acurate, according to the article at the link

The suit also states that Vlaming was accused of using female pronouns when discussing the student to other people and during one incident in class, Vlaming referred to the student as "her." Vlaming acknowledged the incident saying that it was unintentional and he addressed it with the student after class, according to the lawsuit

.

While I agree that always using the student's name, rather than using pronouns is discrimination that is tolerable, that is not what happened here. The teacher apparently made a significant (albeit imperfect) effort to avoid engendering the student to his face, the teacher continued to intentionally misgender him in public. (Note - using names instead of pronouns is still discrimination, unless the teacher codes so for all of his students.)

[Chemisse]

6. I don't think it really matters what he said to other adults.

As long as the student himself did not experience discomfort or feel discriminated against.

There is probably a lot that we don't know about this story, so they may have had good reason to fire him. I am just not seeing a compelling reason with what is here.

I am a high school teacher and we just went through something like this with one of the older male teachers. He actually behaved in an intolerant way toward the student in class. He was suspended for a number of weeks, but was allowed to come back, and has been respectful since.

[LisaM]

9. It's a new area for some people with a learning curve.

I agree with your assessment.

[Ms. Toad]

10. .

to both of the two preceding posts.

First, of course it matters what he said to other adults. Is it ok for a racist teacher to use the N-word as long as they are in white-only company? That is the racial equivalent of what this teacher did by intentionally refusing to use male pronouns in adult company, which I am sure he presumed was straight/cisgender.

Aside from it being offensive generally, he not only used female pronouns with other adults, he used them in referring to the young man to his classmates. And there has been more than one meeting, including meetings with school board members before he "slipped" in class, leading to his termination.

And, oh, by the way had he been making a practice out of either using the correct pronouns - or -never using pronouns for anyone - he wouldn't have "slipped" because doing the right thing would have been a habit. Like I used to tell my high school students when they thought they heard me slip and swear - whatever you think you heard isn't in my vocabulary. If saying "her" isn't in his vocabulary he can't slip - and by referring to him off and on as female, he is recklessly (at a minimum) setting up a situation in which he will ultimately "slip"

[obamanut2012]

7. No, he still deadnamed and misgendered the student, period

Good lord.

He absolutely and obviously was not trying.