Virginia teachers reaffirm suit against Harrisonburg schools over transgender student policies

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The Bulletin
Virginia teachers reaffirm suit against Harrisonburg schools over transgender student policies

By: Nathaniel Cline - October 8, 2024 1:16 pm

Three Harrisonburg City teachers renewed their lawsuit against the Harrisonburg City School Board on Friday, referencing the Supreme Court of Virginia’s 2023 opinion that school boards may not compel an employee, over their objection, to refer to a student by pronouns that don’t correspond with the student’s sex.

On Friday, Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the Harrisonburg teachers, filed the brief in Rockingham County Circuit Court. In June 2022, Harrisonburg City teachers Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh, and Laura Nelson filed a lawsuit challenging the school board’s decisions that they claim “violate Virginia’s Free Speech Clause and the Virginia Religious Freedom Restoration Act by compelling them to speak a message to which they object,” the attorneys stated. ... The legal team recently settled a case for a former high school French teacher who declined to refer to a transgender student by his requested pronouns. The case ended with the West Point School Board agreeing to pay $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.

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Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal organization focused on protecting religious rights, claimed the teachers were directed to “immediately implement” three practices through a series of trainings: asking students their preferred pronouns; always using them, even when contrary to a student’s sex; and doing so without notifying parents or seeking their consent.

ADF Senior Counsel Vincent Wagner said by doing so, the Harrisonburg City School Board is compelling its employees to refer to students by their pronouns that don’t correspond with their sex. ... “[Figliola, Marsh, and Nelson] like all School Board employees, face a choice: comply with the trainings’ ‘Best Practices’ or risk losing their jobs,” the brief read.

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Nathaniel Cline
Nathaniel is an award-winning journalist who's been covering news across the country since 2007, including politics at The Loudoun Times-Mirror and The Northern Neck News in Virginia as well as sports for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. He has also hosted podcasts, worked as a television analyst for Spectrum Sports, and appeared as a panelist for conferences and educational programs. A graduate of Bowie State University, Nathaniel grew up in Hawaii and the United Kingdom as a military brat. Five things he must have before leaving home: his cellphone, Black Panther water bottle, hand sanitizer, wedding ring and Philadelphia Eagles keychain.

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