This teacher was fired over something he wouldn’t say!

It’s been just over a year since Peter Vlaming was fired from his job teaching French at a Virginia high school.

Despite parents and students rallying in support of one of their community’s beloved teachers, the West Point School Board’s vote to terminate Peter was unanimous.

The decision was nothing short of shocking.

Peter was being punished for something he wouldn’t say. He was fired for having a belief that’s been nearly universal for most of human history!

That belief is simply that a person can’t change their sex. And the thing Peter wouldn’t say was to refer to a female student using male pronouns.

This is what it’s come to

There is a movement aimed at controlling your freedom to follow your conscience. What you believe. What you say. What you will and will not do.

Opponents of religious freedom demand complete submission to their views on issues like biological sex, marriage, and abortion.

People of faith who don’t fall in line are often targeted and punished—medical professionals, small business owners, churchgoers… and educators like Peter.
 
How Peter’s story began…

It all started when one of Peter’s female students began identifying as a boy.

Peter agreed to call this student by the student’s new preferred name. He cares for all of his students and wanted this student to feel welcomed and respected. In fact, he also allowed every student in his French class to choose new French names for the year, so that this student wouldn’t feel singled out for picking a new name.

But then the school demanded that Peter refer to this female student using male pronouns.

This was something Peter could not do.

As a French teacher, Peter knows that words and language carry meaning.

And as a Christian, Peter believes that God has created human beings in His image, as male or female. This is a biological reality. To call a man a woman or vice versa would be to endorse an ideology that denies the truth and that conflicts with his beliefs.

So Peter proposed a compromise.

He made it clear that he would accommodate the student by not using a pronoun the student found offensive. But at the same time, Peter stated that he can't use a pronoun that offends his conscience. He would simply avoid using pronouns altogether and use the student’s preferred name instead.

This wasn’t good enough for school administrators or the school board—so they fired him.

But public schools have no business forcing a teacher to choose between his beliefs and his career.

That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit representing Peter against the West Point School Board.

Peter’s religious convictions are sincere. He holds a belief about biological reality that was nearly universal only a few years ago. It’s a belief you probably share, John.

And Peter treated the student with kindness and dignity. He made a good faith effort to accommodate as much as his conscience would allow. He agreed to call the student by the name that student chose.

It wasn’t enough.

The truth is the school board didn’t care how well Peter treated this student. It was on a crusade to compel conformity.

A father with no job and five other mouths to feed can’t afford to mount a legal defense after being unjustly fired. Thankfully,  Peter is getting the strong legal defense he needs free of charge.
 
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