Virginia Supreme Court Rules Teacher Can Sue School That Fired Him for Not Using Student’s Preferred Pronouns

Virginia’s highest court ruled on Thursday in favor of a high school teacher who was fired after refusing to use one of his student’s preferred pronouns. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the fired high school French teacher, Peter Vlaming, had a valid legal claim that he was wrongfully terminated for refusing to use a student’s chosen pronouns and should be allowed to make his case before a lower court that had previously dismissed his claims. During the 2017–2018 school year, Mr. Vlaming became aware that a female student had wanted to begin identifying as a male. Mr. Vlaming alleges he proactively met with the student and the student’s parents and began accommodating the change by referring to the female student by a more culturally masculine name they had chosen. But rather than using male or female pronouns, Mr. Vlaming decided to forego the use of pronouns altogether when referring to the female student. The teacher’s efforts to accommodate his student did not satisfy school officials, who ordered him to use the female student’s preferred pronouns....