There was a victory for religious liberty in the state of Virginia on December 13, 2023. Admittedly, the decision by the Virginia Supreme Court was a procedural one, but it is significant nonetheless.
Here's the background. In 2018 Peter Vlaming, a public schoolteacher at West Point High School, received a directive he could not in good conscience follow. He was told by school officials he must refer to a student in his French class with male pronouns even though the student was a biological female. The school district accused him of gender identity discrimination and fired him when he cited religious grounds as his explanation for not lying.
Vlaming sued the school district in 2019, but a circuit court in Virginia rejected his lawsuit, asserting he had no legally viable claim. In 2021, he appealed to the state supreme court. The Virginia Supreme Court just ruled he does have a viable claim and ordered the lower court to consider it.
The language the majority on the Virginia Supreme Court used is greatly encouraging. Virginia Supreme Court Justice D. Arthur Kelsey declared, "Religious liberties in this Commonwealth do not vanish simply because a purely secular law says so." Do I hear an "AMEN"?
Mr. Vlaming was blessed to have friends and allies at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in his corner when he decided to fight back. They handled his lawsuit. Chris Schandevel of ADF issued a statement saying in part, "As a teacher, Peter was passionate about the subject he taught, was well-liked by his students, and did his best to accommodate their needs and requests. But he couldn't in good conscience speak messages that he doesn't believe to be true, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason."
Not surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sided with the Virginia school district, was irate about the decision.
The ACLU charged that the decision "… will potentially exempt them [gender-confused students] from the right that all students have to a safe and inclusive learning environment."
For decades now, the LGBTQ+ movement's agenda has been at war with religious liberty. Dr. James Dobson predicted this many years ago and he was right. The "trans" wing of the movement is the most aggressive at this time with demands that everyone, including Christians and other people of faith, lie about reality to advance trans ideology. Various states and the Biden administration are putting the full power of government behind this radical agenda. As Christians, we must stand our ground and continue to tell the truth.